Festivals and Other Disasters
by Stormfoedt
Summary: Oh, he loved festivals. He loved the food, the company... And the peak of every good festival.. fireworks. He realized. Natsu realized with a jolt what it was he was running towards. Only the details remained unfinished when he started running, and SHE was setting up... Of course. Fire. The smell of fire, mixed in with.. gunpowder. Dark eyes widened, and the world slowed. BOOM.
1. Chapter 1, 1st Saga

***I do not own Fairy Tail, nor its characters or its storyline***

"You smell funny." Natsu Dragneel stated matter of factly, the statement being a sort of greeting as he sat down next to me where I lay sunbathing by the sea. It was a lovely day in Magnolia, and I had decided to take the day off in order to work on my tan. Everything was good. My rent was payed for, I had found the cutest dress yesterday at the mall AND I had afforded to buy it. The ONLY thing that currently kept irking me.. would be HIM. As in the fool that had decided to imply that I smelled FUNNY. What the hell did that mean?! No matter. BREATHE, Lucy. Do NOT let him get to you.

"Do not." I denied simply, didn't even offer him a glance as I stretched on the ground, enjoying every ray of sunlight hitting my bare skin. Oh, my bikini was new as well, bought with the excess money after I had payed for the dress. It was black, laced with gold around the pieces, gold that continued into strings that were knit at my sides on the lower piece and behind on the upper. A simple bikini, and the gods knew I needed a new one. The last one was all but torn to shreds after being used under battle on the last mission I was on, the one giving me the money for rent this time around.

"Do too." Natsu argued, and I sighed. Do NOT let yourself be affected by the idiot, Lucy. He is just an idiot. Pay him no heed and he will go away. After reprimanding myself mentally I ignored the comment, gave him no indication that I had at all heard him speak. He would go away. But he didn't. I kept my eyes closed, yet felt his presence none the less, sitting beside me and for the gods knew why patiently awaiting my reply. I sighed. By the gods... I opened my eyes, and sure enough, there he was, sitting by my side.

"Okay, I'll bite. What do you mean, funny?" I asked, and at the same time used my elbows to sit halfway up while keeping my body exposed to the sun.

"I don't know." he replied. I blinked. Really? REALLY? Ugh.

"What do you want, Natsu?" I asked. It obviously was SOMETHING, and to be honest I found it a bit odd that he hadn't spelled it out for me already. My partner and best friend Natsu wasn't one to beat around the bush.

"I'm bored." he said then. Well, figured.

"You want to go on another mission." I said then, sat up more properly since it didn't seem like he was leaving me alone anytime soon. I briefly noted his utter ignorance to my body, and chose to not let that bother me the second thereafter since this WAS Natsu after all. He was hardly one to notice anything, sex appeal least of all.

"I'm bored," he repeated, as if that was reasoning enough. For him, it probably was. Then he produced a flier from his vest, handed it to me, and his face lit up in the most childish grin ever. Oh, he had wanted to tell me about this for a long time. I took the flier from him, skimmed through the content of this mission Natsu for whatever reason was dying to go on. As I read it, I could see why.

_Help needed to set up a festival in Hargeon. Setting it up includes moving boxes, constructing booths and setting up fireworks etc. etc._

Well, it didn't seem like a bad job, and I knew Natsu had a thing for festivals. Festivals was all about food, drinks and fireworks. Much like everyday Fairy Tail, but with more people. Oh, and fireworks. While the constant surge of magic did have its beauties as people fought in the guild it was not quite the same as fireworks.

"Read on to the reward!" he almost squealed, and I looked up for a moment, only to see an ecstatic Natsu that was unable to sit still, waiting for me to finish so we could go already.

_Reward: a ticket that will allow you to enjoy all the food and other festival related activities and rides for free._

So.. no money. It was a grunts job, the grunt bribed with the promise of food. I.. did not see the appeal in this job. Of course I loved festivals, but.. this was my day off. I had a tan to work on. After being constantly denied any kind of approval of my woman assets as of late I needed to work on my own confidence, and it started with a tan, NOT an all you can eat buffet.

"You go." I stated, laid back down and closed my eyes after handing him the flier again. Not like he needed me for such a mission anyways. He could go on that festival and enjoy himself just fine without me. Honestly, I didn't need to follow him EVERYWHERE he went.

"Aw, come on!" he protested.

"No. My answer is no, and that is final!" I replied.

* * *

HALF AN HOUR LATER, AT THE TRAIN STATION IN MAGNOLIA

"You still smell funny," Natsu commented as the train arrived, sending me an odd look. I whacked him on the head, denied his claim once more before we entered the train. I did SO not smell funny.

* * *

A FEW HOURS LATER, AT THE HARGEON TRAIN STATION

From the very moment HE showed up, I should've known there was no way getting out of it. Bloody Dragon Slayers and their skills when it came to persuasion. Of course everyone else on Team Natsu had to be conveniently otherwise occupied, including Happy. Of course the Partner card had to be drawn. And then the puppy eyes. I sighed and started dragging what looked like the corpse of the persuader towards the city hall where our client would be waiting for our arrival. Transportation. No other explanation was needed.

* * *

FIVE MINUTES INTO THE JOB

"No! NATSU, don't!" BOOM. CRASH. He ran into something while carrying something that had been so big he hadn't seen where he was going. By the sounds of it whatever was involved didn't get out of it unscathed.

* * *

THREE HOURS INTO THE JOB

"Natsu, that's.." BOOM. A big hole into the road where the fire mage had been a moment before appeared in the massive explosion.

"..Dynamite." I ended. That would be the.. fifteenth..? workrelated accident so far. I think.

* * *

SIX HOURS INTO THE JOB, AFTER RETRIEVING AND PATCHING UP A MISSING NATSU AFTER THE DYNAMITE INCIDENT AND AFTER SEVERAL MORE INCIDENTS

"YOU. Sit here. Don't move. Don't touch anything." I ordered the disoriented boy that at the moment sat on an empty crate after I had finished bandaging him up. I had conjured Virgo and Taurus to help me finish the assembly of the festival and the repair of the damage done by my partner, and Loke had conjured himself to help as well. I should've known it would end up becoming like this. Unless the slaying of monsters or beating up thugs were involved Natsu was all destruction and of little help. Well, unless Erza was there to keep him in line. I wish she was here, but she was on some other job this time around.

* * *

THIRTY MINUTES AFTER TELLING NATSU TO BACK OFF

"Where's Lucy?" asked the Dragon Slayer, uncharacteristically still sitting on the crate he had been told to sit at a while earlier. The one he was talking to would be Loke, or Leo the Lion, the leader of the Zodiac spirits. He was carrying a large crate, but stopped upon being questioned. He wrinkled his forehead.

"Probably somewhere nearby, she said something about setting up.." he paused, the Lion Spirit, his frown getting deeper. Suddenly, without warning, he dropped the crate and set off running just as Taurus disappeared back to the spirit world as he passed, the five crates he was carrying landing on the ground, their contents spilling out. It took the Fire Dragon a second to react, but when he did he got up with a similar urgency to that of the Lion Spirit as he too started sprinting in the same direction.

The sun was setting. Some people had already started to arrive, the crates being carried around a mere few last remaining details. Extra food, extra prizes, extra drinks. The sun was setting, and Two males were running, and running fast in between bodies, both running towards.. something. It was pure instinct, really, and the little knowledge Leo the Lion had regarding what Lucy was doing around that vary time. Details. Little tiny details.

Booths filled with food, the damp from the frying fodder filling the air with pleasant smells that on any day would make the running Dragon Slayer drool. Lanterns had started to light up above the booths, people laughing and eating adding to the atmosphere. Oh, he loved festivals. He loved the food, the company, the air that just oozed of joy and laughter. And food. And the peak of every good festival.. fireworks. He realized. Natsu realized with a jolt what it was he and his fellow guildmate were running towards. Only the details remained unfinished when they started running, and she was setting up... Of course.

He upped his pace, struggling with the moving mass of bodies as the crowd became denser, all because of that which they all anticipated. The finale. The peak. And even if nothing was wrong, he still wanted to be there. He wanted to be there to see it, and possibly participate in the finishing task if he was allowed.

Fire. The smell of fire, mixed in with.. gunpowder. Dark eyes widened, and the world slowed. Natsu Dragneel saw the back of Loke, struggling with the crowd, and then.. he stopped struggling, went writhing to the ground right before everything became chaos. It all just.. exploded. BOOM. CRACKLE. ROAR. HOWL.

And he disappeared, the fellow male, in a flash of light as the house that held all the firework ceased to exist in a pandemonium of sound and light and explosions. Screams followed. People ran, cried out, trampled over each other in their hurry to get away from the howling explosives that they so loved when it was heading for the skies rather than following the ground towards innocent bystanders. And so, only Natsu Dragneel remained, running still, yet toward the inferno rather than away from it. For Loke had been running that way. Towards his Master. Lucy Heartfilia, that allegedly had been in that house. A house that was no more, perhaps very much like the girl that had remained within it.

***No. In case you wondered, the answer is no. What is the question? The question is regarding whether or not I know where this is heading, if anywhere at all. For now it is a One Shot until I find myself in the mood to continue it. IF I continue it, that is. I might just make this another compilation of One Shots too. Anyways. Here it was. Hope you enjoyed it somewhat***


	2. Chapter 2, 1st Saga Part 2

***Because I was bored. It escalated a bit, but not too much. Not beyond the point of no return. Not yet, anyways. I do not own Fairy Tail, nor its characters or its storyline***

I was dead. Finito. Gone from this world. Well, at least that were my first coherent thoughts following a bundle of emotions, nonsentical images and the sensation of pain. After that. After a part of my brain decided that I was dead, another part, a much more reasonable part, started to protest. Dead people don't think. Nor do they feel pain. In other words, had I been dead, I would not lie here and establish just that.

Okay. Now when that was at least temporarily decided, I opened my eyes. Blue sky. Clouds moving swiftly across it. A gentle wind softly caressed my exposed skin, a lot weaker down here than up there it would seem. So... where was I? With a groan I managed to sit up so I could take in my surroundings. It hurt a bit, but more like a stiffness of the muscles rather than the pain of injuries, as if I had been lying still for.. a long time.

Grass. Long grass that swayed in the wind, effectively hiding me from the rest of the world, and possibly hiding the world from me. In other words, I would need to et up in order to find out where I was. Oh, and I was.. naked. The hell? My body was unhurt though, without a single scratch indicating what might've made me establish myself as dead. No blood. No bruising. Nothing.

I managed to get my feet under me, and my long blonde hair moved in front of me, shielding my eyes from my world as I steeled myself for the big rising. My muscles were all wobbly and uncooperative, so the steeling was a necessity. One. Two Three. UP! In a swift movement I took off, or at least it felt like that as my feet pushed my body into a state of standing up-ness. A standing up-ness that almost ended as my feet told me that the weight of my body was too much to bear. I managed to keep standing, somehow, but for how long this would last was unknown.

The grass reached me roughly to the waist, so finally I could see where I was. Well, at least I got to see more of my surroundings. The grass where I had been laying was just by a road, or a clearing, and I stepped onto the soft ground where the grass didn't grow as high and thus made it easier to see. Yep, most definitely a clearing. Trees surrounded it in the distance, and it looked like someone walked here frequently since a sort of path led away from this place.

And other than forest and grass and other forest-ish stuff usually found in the wild, there were two more things. One, there was an old, grassy hut of sorts, old and weary but seemingly useable. And when I said hut I didn't mean cabin, or anything with a door. It was a construction made out of straw, and probably held up by some kind of woodwork, with an opening into something I guess could be regarded as a kind of INside. Probably didn't feel too warm or anything, but should it begin to rain or should the wind choose to intensify I guess it would offer some shelter.

The other thing that definitely didn't just pop out from the ground like a sort of mushroom would be the graves. Not many graves, it wasn't a graveyard. There were two of them, to be exact. Two graves of somewhat similar design, standing side by side outside the hut. That would be a rather odd place to put a grave, wouldn't it? Just outside the home of someone. Then again, the hut was weary, so the graves might belong to whoever used to live in there. If anyone at all ever had been living there.

With unsteady steps I walked over to the two headstones, curious as to what names would be carved into the hard surface. I squatted down, looked at the carvings. One read Lissanna Strauss. My memory served me with a face, a voice, and an identity. I knew who this was, and realized a moment later where I was. I had heard the story after all.

"You're..?" a voice called behind me, and I turned to see the very person this grave once upon a time had belonged to. She stood there, looking at me with surprise etched upon her face, her short silvery hair moving slightly in the wind and her blue eyes wide. She wore a blue t-shirt and a white shorts today, remained somewhat filthy, obviously heading home and not the other way around, her backpack light and probably only containing clothing by now, and not any food. As I turned though, looking into her eyes, the shock seemed to fall away.

"Ah, sorry. I mistook you for somebody else. You two do look a lot alike, though. Hi, I'm Lissanna, and you're.." she paused, the younger Strauss sibling, momentarily as I managed to get up from my squatting position and turned to her completely, showing off my entire naked glory. Oh, I forgot about that. A blush spread throughout my face and I attempted to at least cover up somewhat, without much success.

"..naked. Oh dear. You must be freezing, though I don't really have anything for you to wear. Oh, I know! You can take the cape. It isn't much, but at least it'll cover you up until we get home and I can give you something more.. well, something more." she smiled, took off her backpack and dragged out a cape from it that she handed over to me so I could wrap it around me like a towel. It wasn't much, but at least I wasn't naked anymore. Then she tossed the backpack over her shoulder, grabbed my arm and started dragging me along. I only got to take a quick look at the other grave, barely managing to read the name engraved on it. Lucy Heartfilia. My memory served me with a face, a voice and an identity. Well... This might get awkward.

* * *

My hair had gotten longer, I could assess as much as we wandered through the cobbled streets of Magnolia. I had noticed it before, the length, but my memory had failed to give me my identity before I read that name, so I hadn't given it much thought. It reached down below my rear end now, down to my thighs, though not quite as far down as my knees. And I might be skinnier, though if that was the case it wasn't by much, hardly noticeable at all. Oh, and as I noticed from my free hand, the right one, since Lissanna was dragging me by the left hand an all. There was no mark there. It was pale and without a single trace of anything ever being there.

My mind told me that my name was Lucy Heartfilia. A mage of Fairy Tail. Partner of Natsu Dragneel. Member of Team Natsu. That was who I was. Or so I thought. But there was a grave with that name on it standing in the woods. While Lissanna had seemed to recognize me at first she had admitted to being mistaken the moment after. If I wasn't Lucy, though.. then who was I?

It was a nice day, today, making a lot of people wander in the open street, enjoying the fine weather while it lasted. They stared at the two of us as we passed by, but not too much. Living with daily chaos from the towns only magic guild Fairy Tail did that. While never fully getting used to the happenings brought on by the members of that guild it did give them a sort of immunity to certain things. Then again, I was a naked blonde girl wrapped in a cape being dragged through town.

* * *

"Mira-nee! I'm home!" Lissanna yelled out as we entered what I would have to assume to be the place the Strauss siblings lived.

"Mira's still at the guild, Lis. I'm in the kitchen," a voice called out, a voice that set my memory in action again, providing me with his face before I got dragged into the kitchen and then finally being released. He was standing with his back to us, Elfman, busy cooking some food by the smell of it. It was odd seeing a big man such as himself doing such a delicate job in the kitchen, an are with a lot of breakable things. But he managed it gracefully, moving about with his back to us while preparing a meal.

"Welcome home, Lis. Dinner will be done soon, but you got time to take a shower first. Mira called in earlier on the lacrima and said she'll be late today, but if you'd like we can head over to the guild later on," he said, and I stared. He sounded like a housewife talking about his husband, and not his older sister. Whoa, he really did act differently when at home compare to at the.. I blinked. This was so weird.

"I brought a guest," the girl said, and Elfman turned around, showing me that he at the moment wore a pink frilly apron. That was so.. cute. His eyes widened too when he saw me, and he took a step back before squinting his eyes, looking at me more closely.

"She REALLY looks like..." he said, and Lissanna laughed.

"She does, doesn't she." she replied.

"Is it okay if she stays for dinner? I found her in the woods, lost and completely naked. I don't think she got anywhere to go," the silver haired mage continued, and Elfman nodded thoughtfully.

"That's okay. Natsu's coming for dinner too, so I've cooked plenty of food." he said, his voice falling a bit as he mentioned the name before he turned back to his cooking.

"Oh." Lissanna replied, her voice falling a bit too. Sounding.. not sad, but. Something.

"Ok. That is Elfman, by the way, he's my older brother. Now come on, you need some clothing and I need a shower." she grabbed my arm and dragged me up the stairs that stood in the hallway, next to the door that led into the kitchen. Up the stairs, into the second door to the left, into a room I supposed had to belong to the youngest take over mage. It was a small room, a bed under the only winow at the end, a make up table and a set of drawers by one wall, a green couch by the other. Lissanna headed straight for the drawers, tossed out some underwear, a white shorts and a black t-shirt before she sprinted out the door again, mumbling something about a quick shower and how she would be back soon.

I quickly put on the clothing she had offered me and walked over to the make up table so I could see this great change that differed from the image of Lucy that resided in my mind. But it was Lucy that stared back at me. My hair was a bit paler, and oddly straight considering how I'd been laying in the wild and all, but it didn't look all that different none the less. And then there was my eyes. I noted that my eyes would be what made me different from the memory of my.. HER face. While they looked very much alike, it was as if looking into them made the rest matter less. This was NOT Lucy. I was NOT Lucy.

THAT, was a frightening thought. Not knowing anything was frightening. But what was more frightening than anything was the knowledge that since I was not HER, I had no one. I had no guild. No friends. Not even a name. Only memories that didn't belong to me and a group of people that had lost the person the memories belonged to.

I left the room before the dawning dread could take hold of me and ripple through me in the form of a crippling panic attack. Even though I was no one, I could still help Elfman prepare the food. If the memories served me right the other dinner guest had quite the appetite, after all. Silently I moved by the side of the large man, picked up a knife and a cutting board, took the onion from the man just as he was about to start cutting it.

"There's no need to help out, I got this covered." he protested, attempted to grab the onion from me, but I cut it in half and started cutting it inot fine pieces with practiced movement before he managed to snatch it. Besides, the door opened just then, and Elfman was preoccupied as he greeted the new arrival.

"Ah, hello, Natsu. Be a man and wait until dinner's done. You're early." he said, and I kept cutting the onion, didn't turn. I didn't dare. He had lost m.. HER. He had lost his partner. And I looked like her, apparently. The onion was getting blurry now, and something wet landed on my hand just as a sob ripped its way up my throat, my shoulders starting to shake. I was so scared. Terrified. The onion stung in my eyes, but it was far from what made me break down like this.

"Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.." I muttered between sobs, and squatted down while covering my head with my arms as if to protect myself. I heard voices, Elfman being the helpless man he was with tears, Natsu probebly just standing there. I kept muttering sorry, my body shaking in contractions as I squatted on the kitchen floor in somebody elses house and cried loudly in front of people that didn't know me, and that I wasn't supposed to know. The door opened, I registered it, but only barely as panic surged through me. I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't be here. I should just.. leave. But I didn't want to. If I left, then I truly would be alone.

Arms wrapped themselves around me then, pulled me into the lap of someone that suddenly was by my side. Cooing sounds could be heard, and she stroked my hair soothingly.

"It's alright, dear. It's alright. Elfman, who is this?" Mirajane Strauss asked her brother calmly while keeping me in her lap, rocking slightly back and forth in an attempt to calm me. And it did. Somewhat. My sobs calmed a bit, almost got reduced to hiccuping. What was I doing?

"I don't know. Lissanna came in with her," the large man replied, and I heard running steps coming down the stairs.

"Oh, hi Natsu. What happened here? Oh, what's wrong?" she said in fast succession and was by my side in an instant.

"I'm sorry." I said again, my voice sore and begging.

"It's alright, dear. It's alright. Do you want to talk about it?" Mira replied. She was so kind, even towards strangers. More sobs wracked through my body, but I had to stop in order to start talking.

"Hush, now, take your time. There's no rush." she said calmly, and I shook my head, tried to stop crying, managed once more to reduce it to mere hiccups.

"I can't. I'm sorry. I need to leave. I need to..." I stopped talking, got up and started to leave when Natsu stood in front of me, blocking the way. He was staring at me, staring at me straight in the eyes, and for the first time.. I noticed that it wasn't just me that was different. He seemed.. younger?

"I'm sorry," I muttered again, and tried walking past him, but he didn't budge.

"I NEED to leave. Or he'll find me!" I said, and more memories flowed through me. Old memories. Memories from before. Before I joined the guild. Back in the days when I was running from HIM.

"Who?" he asked, a brow raised at me. He didn't know what was going on. He didn't.. crap. I remembered when Lissanna found me. She hadn't looked at the graves. Not even glanced at them. I had been found in the woods. Nothing else. I wasn't dead. I was in the past. SHIT!

* * *

MEANWHILE

The ground was scorching and littered with pieces of wood and gunpowder and general debris. Some forgotten fireworks sparked to life every now and then, exploding in vibrant colours and making loud noises. The air was filled with heavy smoke and making it hard to breath. Yet he was there still. Digging. Swearing. Looking for the one that had been there. No one else was around. Not yet. People had evacuated, and the rescue teams would be situated somewhere out of reach of possible explosions. For why would the medics go into the danger zone? No one was missing. Only one. And the one missing was not very likely to be...

Natsu Dragneel swore again, upping his pace in his search for her. Thinking like that would get him nowhere. If he had time to think, he could dig more. He could search harder.

The sky was dark, and the lanterns had mostly burned up due to the explosives running about, giving the area a ghosty feel to it. A starless night.

***And I am at another end, though this chapter actually demands at least one more chapter. Well, just great. If I only knew what I was really attempting to write about. I got an idea, sure, but my ideas tend to change. A lot. No matter no matter. It'll come to me eventually. Probably.

HINT HINT. I will be vague because being direct will ruin the surprise:

There are three scenes upon which THIS Saga will be played. Two are REAL, the third.. a charade***


	3. Chapter 3, 1st Saga Part 3

***And I am here with another chapter. I do not OWN Fairy Tail, nor its characters or its storyline***

It took some time, some persuasion and some violence before we all gathered around the dinner table. No, the violence was not towards me, it was Natsu that eventually got punched through a wall for something, or perhaps just to ease up the atmosphere. Though she was a good soother, this definitely was the Mira that was before Lissanna went M.I.A.. Lightly clothed and violent.

So I ended up eating with them anyways. No more question were asked for a good while, they only spoke of recent missions and monsters and destruction brought on due to the fighting involved. Apparently Natsu often came over to the Strauss house for free food. That would have to be.. before. Before Lissanna died.

"So I don't even know your name, and I can't just call you girl all the time," Mira suddenly interfered, and I gulped, swallowed the food in my mouth in the same go.

"I.." I hesitated. More images flowed through me. Running. HIS face. I knew that I didn't want to tell them, but also felt that I owed them as much for sheltering me, the stranger.

"Lucy." I replied eventually. A first name would do no harm. At least not much harm.

"Lucy, eh? Okay. Are you a mage, Lucy?" Mira continued on, and I blushed.

"Uh, no. I want to, though." that last one came out as a whisper. I wanted to, but I wasn't allowed. Being a mage was for peasants. People that didn't possess the wealth that allowed them to avoid such work. Even joining a guild. But I had joined one in the end. The best guild in the whole of Fiore. Fairy Tail.

"So what magic do you use?" Natsu asked, his mouth filled with food, the act of talking making the content of his mouth spilling everywhere. Gross. I felt myself grimacing, even though his way of eating had passed over to the world of normality a long time ago. Grimacing was just a lingering gesture, a gesture remaining in that faint hope that he one day would realize how gross his way of eating was. Yeah right... I doubted it ever would.

"Celestial magic, though I don't got any keys yet," I muttered, smiled sheepishly. I had woken up naked after all. There was no way I got any keys. They were gone, and since I was in the past the lack of them might be for the best.

"That's a rare kind of magic, why'd you choose that?" Lissanna asked in between mouthfuls. She was sitting next to the food-processor but was tactfully ignoring his table manners.

"My.." I silenced again. If this was the past, then telling them might not be such a good idea.

"My mom used to be a Celestial mage before she retired." I ended anyways. I wondered if she was still alive. Probably not, considering how the people around the table weren't that much younger than the ones I knew. I guessed a two year gap, or something like that. As in the year Lissanna died.

"So who's after you?" Natsu asked, and I stiffened. I couldn't tell him. I couldn't do that.

"I can't... Thank you for the food. And the clothes. I'll pay you back once I got some money, but..." I got up, froze when a knife was planted firmly right in front of me.

"We cooked for you, so you better stay for dessert, Lucy," Mira said in a sugar sweet voice, and I gulped, though I didn't give up my pose. Another set of images surged through my mind. Images containing the promised consequences should I get caught. And even though Mira was scary, there were people that were scarier.

"I need to go." I repeated, stood my ground though I didn't move.

"How did you end up in the forest anyways?" Lissanna interrupted, probably seeing the death sentence looming over my head.

"Alternate transportation," I replied.

"Without your clothes?" Lissanna asked, probably remembering our earlier encounter. If she hadn't seen the graves, she would've thought.. so many things.

"You were naked?" Elfman asked. He was blushing, apparently not thinking about why I was wearing the clothes belonging to his younger sister before now. Pervert.

"An unfortunate side effect." I replied. It really had been. At least I felt that it was.

"So what happened?" the youngest Strauss continued asking.

"They burned off." I answered then, an answer that felt sincere even without any images supporting the claim. Burned off. How did I get here though?

"What?" Natsu suddenly got interested now. Of course he would. It was related to fire. Everything that had something to do with fire would of course interest him.

"You're not burned though." Lissanna commented.

"It wasn't that kind of fire," I lied. Well, kind of lied. It wasn't the sort of fire that would hurt me. But it might be the kind of fire they believed it to be anyways. Truth or lies. It all depended on the perspective.

"Do you have anywhere to stay?" Lissanna asked me from behind. I turned then.

"No." I replied, just realized the obvious flaw in my plan to leave. I wanted to leave, and that included only that. What came after... I hadn't really accounted for there being an after, it would seem. I guess I assumed I would get caught before anything else had to be planned out.

"Then at least stay the night. Elfman could probably need a helping hand in the kitchen, and you need to pay your debt off," she said. And like that, it was decided. I let my shoulders fall, and simply gave up. No way would I be able to counter that girl after she had decided how this was done.

"So.. what kind of fire was it?" Natsu asked as I made my way back to the table, and I think I saw drool coming from his mouth. I chuckled, but ignored his question. This.. was kind of nice. Cozy, almost. They had seen me cry and still wanted me around.

* * *

MEANWHILE

Come on. Come on. COME ON. He called out for her again, went to a new heap and started digging. Where WAS she? It had been an hour already, and still there was no sign of Lucy Heartfilia, his partner. Still the area remained relatively unsafe, scorched and unsafe. But she was there. He KNEW she was there.

Unexpectedly a hand shot up from the heap where he was digging. It went straight for his neck, and the moment after a very pissed off looking Lucy sat up, glaring at him with a mean look in her eyes.

"YOU." she started, her voice menacing and already reaching a tone that meant he was in deep shit. Without releasing her death grip around his throat she got up on her feet, and he could assess that she seemed unhurt apart from a few cuts and bruises. Except from ONE major detail. Finally she let go of his neck and started stabbing his chest with a small yet very powerful finger.

"YOU better fix this, or I assure you there WILL be hell to pay!" Lucy almost roared, before moaning in displeasure and putting her hands at her back. Her enormous bulging belly stuck out from beneath her loose black t-shirt that was decorated by a flaming skull, and she was wearing a pair of sweatpants.

"Lucy..?" Natsu questioned, not yet realizing fully what was going on, only aware of two things. Lucy was alright, and she was pissed off beyond belief.

"Did yo get fat?" he asked further on, his voice thin since he felt that he was walking on thin ice. While his instinct DID assume correctly, his mouth got ahead of him, which would be why he found himself imbedded into the ground the moment after as she whacked him on the head.

"I. AM. PREGNANT. YOU DAMN. FOOL. And you better FIX this BEFORE. I. GIVE. FUCKING. BIRTH!" she kept kicking him in between words, stopped talking again as she moaned.

"Do you know how much it sucks to be pregnant? I have to PEE all the time, and Natsu keeps bitching like a little girl about things being too dangerous! Like what the HELL!" Lucy stomped her foot on the ground but momentarily kept it away from Natsu that sat up and rubbed his head.

"What are you talking about? I don't act like a little girl!" the idiot tried protesting, and it earned him another kick in the head.

"I don't remember you being so fucking SLOW, Natsu Dragneel. I'M. NOT. YOUR. LUCY!" she kicked him a few extra times between words for good measure and then disconinued once more, looked down on his near corpse with annoyance written all her.

"I'm Lucy Ashley from Edolas, you idiot, and you better FIX this before Nashi is born or I'm never going to hear the end of it. And if I'm going to suffer, so are YOU!" she pointed on him accusatively, and then crossed her arms, looked into the air with a stubborn look on her face.

"So.. you're Edo-Lucy?" he asked carefully, and edo-Lucy sent him another evil glare. She didn't attack him though. Just nodded.

"So where's MY Lucy?" he asked then, used her expression for it. HIS Lucy, the Lucy from Earthland.

"I'm guessing she's in Edolas with Edolas Natsu, that probably is freaking out since she by your reaction earlier isn't PREGNANT. Gods, I need to PEE again. YOU. LOOK away if you wish to live!" as se said it she started pulling her pants off and the Fire Dragon Slayer looked away in horror as the girl relieved herself right there.

* * *

MEANWHILE

"What do I do what do I do what do I do..." Natsu Dragion was currently freaking out. Why did he freak out? Because a badly injured Lucy had suddenly materialized in front of him, and it wasn't HIS Lucy. This had to be the other one, though he didn't have the faintest idea as to how this happened. And she didn't wake up either, just lay there on the cobbled ground, unnaturally still, not moving a muscle. He groaned in frustration, then just picked up the girl and started running towards Fairy Tail. SOMEONE ought to know what to do next, right? And where was HIS Lucy anyways?

Buildings flew by as he went, freshly built, mostly by members of his guild, Fairy Tail. People moved about in the open streets, talked and laughed and some even sang. Children played about, and the sun was looking down on it all from the clear blue sky, void of any floating islands that once upon a time had been such a normal thing. People had started to get used to it now. Used to things being bound to earth. Used to using actual fire instead of lacrimas. A world without magic. Or so he had believed, the pinkhaired boy that ran with the blonde in his arm.

For after all, Lucy Heartfilia WAS a magic being, so in theory she should not be able to be here. Yet she was. Man, the other Natsu would be freaking out now, surely.

* * *

MEANWHILE (AGAIN)

"The hell is this?" a man uttered. He was wearing a black cloak obscuring his features and as such only his gender could be confirmed due to his voice. Thath, and the fact that he was tall. He stood under the moonlit sky, in the middle of a pine forest, and looking about. Searching for something. Or somewhere.

"Where is she?" he asked no one in particular. For he was indeed alone. Whoever SHE was, she obviously wasn't there. Only him.

***Yes. I brought you another twist. And YES, I used a name I came across on the internet the other day. Fun times, fun times. Well, shit, another chapter is in order, it would seem. Damn me and my current inability to end this. No matter. It gives me something to do***


	4. Chapter 4, 1st Saga Part 4

***And like that, another chapter has been written. Way to go me! I do not own Fairy Tail, nor its characters or its storyline

Thank you YuaShizuka, Ella Daniels and animelover44163 for taking your time reading this tale as well as reviewing, and thank you to all those of you that took your time reading it at all. I really appreciate it!***

He came for me in the night. The man that I somehow knew would come. I had been tucked in by Mirajane Strauss a while ago, but had remained awake. Couldn't sleep. And then.. he was just there. I was taken, and somehow, I knew what to come next. My memories would be taken, followed by the memories belonging to those that had met me. Then I was taken back to HIM. I ALWAYS ended up at the place I had once called home.

The man was tall, restricted me with ease and held a big hand over my mouth in order to keep me from screaming. Down the stairs, out the door. Onto the moonlit cobbles that covered the streets of Magnolia. There he finally let me go, pushed me roughly so I fell to the ground.

"Silly little giRl. TRying to Run away fRom me yet again. You never LEARN!" as he yelled the last word he kicked me in the stomach, sent me a few paces away, and knocking the air out of me. He had a heavy accent. An accent that made him roll the R-s. Somehow I knew him, yet I couldn't conjure an image of him. Just the man in the hood. The man that always could be spotted in the periphery of my vision, and that always was nearby after I had been recaptured. I didn't think he had kicked me before though. And I said he kicked me in the stomach, but it also hurt profusely in my chest. Perhaps the fact that I couldn't breathe.

And as I lay on the cobbled ground, wearing a pink pajamas consisting of a top with hearts on it and a simple long set of trousers, struggling to breathe. He kicked me again. And again. And again.

* * *

MEANWHILE

Mirajane, the one in Edolas, stood bowed over the lifeless form of Lucy Heartfilia, her hands repeatedly pushing down the chest of the blonde. ..9.10. and then breaths. 1.2. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. The girl that literally was not from this world needed medical care, and right away, but before any kind of bleeding could be stopped, she needed to breathe. And THAT, she did not. In fact, Lucy Heartfilia had not been taking a single breath of air since her arrival in Edolas.

Legally, she was dead, which could also be the only explanation as to how she could be here in the first place. While magical while being alive, she was nothing more than flesh and bone while dead. Which made her revival all the more crucial. By the looks of things, earthly medicine would not suffice to heal her, and as such she needed to be alive. Hopefully Edolas would reject her then, and send her back to her world and give them back Lucy Ashley in the process.

"Are you sure that's how you do it?" asked Natsu for the hundredth time, pacing back and forth and moving between being worried for this Lucy and the other one, that currently was missing, probably situated where this Lucy had been. And if that was the case, she could very well be in danger, being pregnant and all.

Mirajane snorted. To be honest she felt sorry for whoever came upon the fierce blonde, being pregnant and hormonal hadn't exactly made the girl meek by any standards.

* * *

Maybe was it the initial yell. Maybe did he somehow pick up on my silent groans of pain. Maybe had the boy a knack for finding trouble. For it was Natsu that suddenly came running, yelling at the man to stop, and waking up the Strauss house in the same go. He really was a noisy kid.

"Are you the one after Lucy?" he asked, his voice dark and his fists ready. I lay on the ground. Unable to get up, hurting all over, and coughing up what I suspected to be blood.

"Oho.. you even told them youR name. Did you believe you could get away? That they would take you in?" the man asked, ignored the boy, but temporary paused his onslaught of kicking me around like a little plaything. In the meantime Elfman, Lissanna and Mirajane came out, all in different states of undress, clearly just woken up. The man laughed, a barking laughter that mocked my attempt to flee.

"And you even got a family, eh? You think they love you? You Really think they even like you? YOU, who aRen't even loved by youR own FATHER?!" he spat on the ground in front of me.

"ARe these all the people that knows?" he asked, all mockery leaving his voice in the instant he returned to strictly business.

"Oi, you didn't.."

"SHUT UP." the man ordered, and Natsu Dragneel discontinued his speech immediately, his hands falling limply to his sides.

"Yes." I whispered, the answer to his question. They all stood there, the people that had shared a meal with me, their eyes empty eyes staring at the man I called the Punisher, because he punished. And I looked at Lissanna, the girl that had confided in me earlier and told me she knew who I was. That my mother used to be a famous mage.

Mirajane, that actually told me of a time when she and my mother had met, and that the guild in Magnolia, Fairy Tail, gladly would accept a girl like me into the guild if I really wanted to join.

Natsu, that even though he too actually knew that I was an heiress told me that my past didn't matter. Only my present, and how I worked to create the future I liked. He even told me I could live with him for a while until I got money for my own place. Of course Mira had scolded him then, told him that a girl and a boy had no business living under the same roof unless they were family or married. And he told her that we could be partners then, as good as family. It had earned him a kick through a wall and onto the street, a hole already repaired by a crafty Elfman, but I still felt moved. He was willing to let me live with him. And the money, the wealth and the political power meant nothing to him.

Elfman had told me that he would show me the grave of his parakeet one day. And that he would love some help with the cooking.

"You will foRget all about Lucy HeaRtfilia. You have neveR met heR. You do not know what she looks like. NoR what she sounds like." the man in the cloak ordered, and of course, like always, they obeyed. The Punisher, the magician that had no name, and who had one job in the Heartfilia Concern. Keep me from escaping. Keep me from having friends.

"Now, giRl. It is time to make you foRget too, though in youR case a moRe violent method must be used. You aRe getting immune, afteR all." And with that he silenced, squatted down, raised me slightly from the ground, then thrust my head against the cobble.

* * *

MEANWHILE

"I need to pee. Where's the fucking bathroom?" Lucy Ashley asked roughly just as they entered through the doors of the guild, fresh of the train and finally back home. Well, at least one of them were. As for the rest of the guild? The ones talking or doing anything stopped doing that, and whatever had been in anyones hand wasn't in their hands anymore. The sound of falling objects was all that could be heard throughout the guildhall. Silence. And more silence.

That was followed by the sound of a sword being unsheathed only moments before that very sword was thrust into the doorframe only inches from the head Natsu.

"WHAT did you do this time, Natsu?" Erza Scarlet demanded as she made her way over to retrieve her weapon, or perhaps to finish the job. Maybe both.

"I didn't do anything!" he protested, took a step backwards from the approaching red fury that obviously was done with whatever it was that had prevented her from joining Natsu and Lucy on their mission earlier.

"It's Edo-Lucy!" he kept on going when she didn't seem to believe his statement, and this time, she stopped. Erza eyes the girl. Noted the black t-shirt. The flaming skull. The bulging stomach. Even if Natsu HAD done something, it would take more than a day for it to become this.. visible.

"I don't know either. Where's the bathroom?" the girl said, confirming his story with few words.

* * *

I was back in the field, in front of the two graves. The sun shone above me, swift clouds moving in the strong wind up there though it remained a soft caress down where I sat. Once more I was utterly naked. Was I in a loop or something?

"You're not supposed to be here." a voice said, and I looked up. My mother stood there, by the grave bearing my name, just out of reach from me where I sat before the grave of Lissanna.

* * *

"Come on, Lucy, don't give up on us just yet!" Mirajane pleaded as she ended yet another session of heart compression and breathed air into the girls lungs once more.

* * *

"Mom?" I asked, tried getting up, but an invisible force held me down.

"You can't give up, Lucy. You can't let him raise another grave in this place. It will break him," my mother said, mildly scolding.

"I'm dying?" I questioned. I guessed it made sense. She was not one of the living, and was not one to step outside my memories of her.

"I need you to fight, Lucy. I know you can," she continued without answering my question. In a way, she already had.

"How?" I asked. I knew too. Letting the boy raise a second grave in this place WOULD destroy him. Another close friend lost and outside of his reach.

"Just fight. Fight and find you way back home." she said, her voice fading with her body, though I could see a proud smile spread across her face just before she disappeared.

* * *

"Mira, I don't think.. you've been going at it for more than two hours, and even if you did.. she's too injured. Mira. I don't. I think it's too..." before Levy could tell the silverhaired barmaid that she thought it was too late the girl started glowing and disappeared in a flash, just as someone screamed out as the Lucy of Edolas reappeared, squatting, and.. peeing on the floor.

"Really? I had to be sent back NOW?" she said in her annoyed voice, just as Natsu jumped her, uncaring of her current situation and just glad she was back.

* * *

No one in Fairy Tail noticed the disappearance of Edo-Lucy at first, since she at that moment was.. well.. in the bathroom peeing for the fiftieth time, but they DID notice the bloody resemblance of a person that suddenly made an appearance in the middle of the guild.

"LUCY!" Natsu yelled out and ran to her side as she lay there on her back, coughing blood and quite possibly choking on it.

"Jet, go get Porlyusca now!" Master ordered immediately as he jumped off the counter and walked over to his injured child.

"Where's Wendy?" he asked further, and Erza went straight for the dorms in order to get the healing mage.

* * *

I was back. It hurt to breathe, and something rusty tasting gurgled in my mouth, it felt like a house had decided it'd be fun to have a go at my ribcage and my whole body just ACHED, but. I was back. I coughed some, tried ridding me of the liquid in my throat without too much success, mostly because I suspected that there was more of it wherever it came from.

"Lucy?" I heard my partner and good friend call out to me. I noticed him sending a frightened look at my stomach area, which I now noticed felt.. penetrated. Stabbed. Crushed too, but the stabbing could hardly make my case better. I coughed some more in a vain attempt to clear my throat. Since coughing didn't help I tried swallowing some of it instead.

"Don't look like that..." I tried, swallowed some more.. just don't think about what it is, Lucy. Just swallow it in order to talk.

"What did you DO?" he asked then. What.. What DID I do? I remembered that odd dream, but obviously I hadn't been handed my ass over by some strange fellow after a late dinner with the Strauss family. I actually didn't.. remember.

"I'm here! Oh god..." Wendy came running, paling considerably as she saw my reduced form. I looked at the roof. I sort of missed that clear sky from my dream. It had been.. peaceful.

* * *

She looked up at the roof, a small smile playing at the corner of the roof. Then. Once more. Her chest stopped heaving up and down, and the gurgling stopped. And once more the older Strauss sibling, albeit a different version of her, decided to step in in order to keep her system up and going while the young healing mage started healing, sobbing as she went. Fairy Tail does not give up. Fairy Tail does not give up. Fairy Tail does NOT..

*You can't give up, Lucy. You can't let him raise another grave in this place. It will break him*

*I need you to fight*

He held her hand, staring at her with wide eyes, not even acknowledging the presence of the others, yelling out or working desperately to save the person the hand belonged to. He was a fighter. Give him an enemy, and he would defeat it. But death? He regarded himself as untouchable, and his friends shared that same status. Even though the acclaimed death of Lissanna had shook his beliefs, that had been.. different. Not because she was Lissanna and not Lucy, though it might partly be that too, but... Her death had not been right in front of him. The happening leading up to her death had not been in his power to stop. Had he only been running slightly faster. Had he only been sitting a little closer, and he would've gotten her out of that house.

He squeezed her hand, staring at her empty eyes. Lucy was a Fairy Tail mage. Fairy Tail does not give up. Fairy Tail does NOT give up.

*I need you to fight, Lucy*

He swallowed, his eyes flickering across her body. The piece of wood protruding from her abdomen. The cuts. The bruises.

*You can't give up, Lucy. You can't let him raise another grave in this place. It will break him*

A Fairy Tail mage does NOT GIVE UP! It was as if a jolt moved through her body, and the pupils in her eyes dilated as she took a gasping gulp of air. It was chaos. It was blood. Then she squeased his hand back, and he knew. He knew that she knew. A Fairy Tail mage does not give up. Then Mirajane took hold of the piece of wood in her abdomen, ripped it out in one go, and Lucy Heartfilia screamed in pure agony.

***It was a bit odd, I will admit, but I think it worked out well in the end. Now the only thing that remains would be the mystery man, but that is a matter I don't regard as one that must be solved right away. Besides, I already wrote myself off any longer stories. This is the fourth chapter, so it's already longer than I would want it to be.

It's not like this is going to be the END end, at least I don't think so. Just the mission end or something. Or maybe it is the end. Nah, I don't think it's the end. I get too easily bored for it to be the end. So there will probably be more, just.. I'll actually have to start writing the next chapter before I can comment any further, really. The pregnant Lucy Ashley was ONE major piece not accounted for before BAM, there she was. It'll work out in the end. I need to remain positive***


	5. Chapter 5, A new Beginning

***An intro to the specified part description of this story. I THINK it will end up as a separate chapter.

I do not OWN Fairy Tail, NOR its characters OR its storyline***

It looked like a normal day, a day with the sun shining above, birds flying through the air and chirping their way throughout the streets of Magnolia. I had just dressed for the day, walked down the stairs and now stood just outside, turning the key as I locked the door. Usually I never locked the door seeing how there was no real point to it, but today. Today was not just any day for me after all.

I set my feet on the curb by the river, lifted my arms up on both sides for balance and started walking towards the guild. Fairy Tail, the only magic guild in the whole town, and the guild of my dreams. I briefly noted some fishermen in a boat warning me about being careful, and I smiled as I lifted a hand in their direction, as a sort of greeting, and an acknowledgement of their warning. I would be careful, as I was every time I dared myself up on that curb.

Today was the day.

Today I would do it.

I wore my blue skirt today, and my belt with my whip and keys hanging by my side. And my shirt, my shirt was the white one, the one with the blue cross. It was clothing I had been wearing countless times before, and that many had seen me in. My hair was also set up in a sort of side ponytail, keeping my fringe away from my face. It was.. ordinary. Ordinary like this day. Ordinary as the sun warming my face where I walked.

And there it was, eventually, the building I had not been visiting for a few days. Earlier I had stopped here. Stopped and stared at the building before I would turn around and head back home. Back home because I didn't dare. I just... I COULDN'T.

But today was different.

I looked down at my right hand, a hand wearing a black leather glove. It covered my guild mark. Hid it completely. Hid it because it needed to be hidden.

I took a deep breath, and then proceeded, walking towards the door, pushing it open and entering. Chaos met me. Chaos because Natsu Dragneel and Gray Fullbuster were having one of their duels, freezing and burning and creating havoc in between the chairs and tables, involving all who weren't smart enough to clear out. That meant that a LOT of people were involved.

I made my way through scorched areas and managed to stumble over frozen floor, all with a singular destination in mind. The bar counter, or more exact the two people that would be situated there. Master Makarov Dreyar and the barmaid Mirajane Strauss. Levy McGarden sat there too, reading one of those books of hers, one written in some dead language by the looks of it this time around. I think, if I thought hard enough, that I might know a few sentences and words in that same language.

I dodged a flying barrel and was there. Finally. Mirajane looked up, smiled.

"Good reflexes," she commented, and then left when Wakaba yelled out an order, left to clear his table of glasses before she could bring him another cup filled with some other kind of alcoholic beverage. I swallowed again, then shifted my gaze upon the little man drinking his ale, looking at his children play about, trashing the whole place. Again. It was a usual occurrence, and though a lot of things were affected by the magic cast about most things were sturdy enough to be usable afterwards. At least for a while.

"Master Makarov..." I began, and his attention shifted as he looked me over, took a deep swig of his cup of ale. He was definitely checking me out as the lecher he was, and liking what he saw. I ignored the urge to slap him, and patiently waited for him to finish looking so we could go back to business. And so he was, only a moment later.

"Yes, my child. What do you want?" he said, smiling at me. It was a kind smile, one I had known for so long. I swallowed again, prepared for the words to come.

"Hi. I'm Lucy. I want to join this guild." I said. It was a perfectly normal line to serve on a perfectly normal day. There was just one minor detail. I had uttered the words before, and I had gotten my request approved. By the same man. In the same guild. On a day much like this one, with the brawling in the background and the sun shining outside.

I am Lucy Heartfilia. Mage of Fairy Tail. Partner of Natsu Dragneel. Member of Team Natsu. At least.. that is what I used to be. Before.. before.. everything. Before everything was just.. gone.

Master Makarov Dreyar eyed me again, looking for something. What exactly he was looking for I didn't know, but I hoped he found it.

"What magic do you use, child?" he asked, and I answered by holding up my keychain with all my keys.

"I'm a Celestial Spirit Mage. I. Hm..." I stopped, briefly considered telling, and decided against it. Loke knew me. He had an otherworldly contract with me, so he was not wiped. But he might be forgotten too. So telling him.. telling Makarov about my current relationship with a former AND possibly current member... it all depended on the status of mentioned member.

"Of course, my child. Lucy, was it? Where would you want your mark?" Master continued, interpreted my silence as some sort of shyness. Probably. I smiled then, sighed in relief. It had been a worry, really. The thought of me not getting approved once more. To be asked to go somewhere else. But he had accepted me.

Once more I had asked. Once more I had been asked to place my mark. I turned then, looked at my partner. Natsu Dragneel. The boy that had brought me here just a year or so passed. He was standing still at the moment, yelling insults and dodging icy spikes as they were launched at them before he himself launched himself into battle once more.

"On my right upper arm. I want it to be pink," I replied, held up my gloved arm. Mirajane Strauss that somehow had gotten around and heard the conversation stamped me. And once more, I was an official member of the guild Fairy Tail.

I thanked her, the woman I had shared so many moments with here in the guild, before heading over to girl with the book. She was so lost within it that she didn't notice me at first as I attempted to read over her shoulder. Indeed, I knew SOME of the words, but it had been a while with that particular writing system.

"Ah, the rewriting of runes, eh? Are you trying to best Fried again?" I asked her casually as I grasped the main concept of the content.

"Eh? Oh, didn't see you there. You can read this?" Levy looked up and spotted me, surprised of my knowledge.

"Only some. Hi, I'm Lucy. I'm new," I reached out my hand, and we greeted, she still a bit flabbergasted and probably still getting over the fact that other people were around at all. She was like that at times.

"Ah, is that so. Nice to meet you, Lucy. I'm Levy. Levy McGarden. I just know you'll love it here," she said back, and I sat down, contemplated ordering a milkshake, but hesitated. That would be TOO familiar. But the milkshake at the guild was SO good...

"Do you wish for me to order for you, Mistress?" came the soft question, and I jumped at the sudden appearance of Virgo, one of my spirits. She wore her maids uniform as per usual, the shackles on her wrists, bowing politely in front of me.

"Virgo! Don't scare me like that!" I almost yelled, had only barely avoided falling off my chair where I sat next to Levy.

"Punishment?" she asked further.

"NO!" I yelled, but the maid only stood there, bowed in front of me. Why didn't she..?

"I am terribly sorry, Mistress, I could not hold her back any longer," she continued.

"Who is that?" asked Levy.

"That is Virgo, the Maiden. She's one of my spirits. Wait. Virgo. I told you to.." I explained airily before returning to Virgo, though I never got to finish the sentence.

"You weren't kidding, eh? So THIS is Fairy Tail? I've heard of it from over THERE, but WOW..." came a voice, a voice more familiar than any other voice to me. Familiar because it was identical to mine. For there she stood, in all her glory, a me. Yes, the very term seemed to be a grammatical nightmare, but another me stood in the middle of the guild, another me with short blonde hair and a mean look in her brown eyes. One might believe her to be the Edolas Lucy, had she ever been a character in the memory of anyones mind. She was NOT, however, THE Lucy from Edolas. But her name WAS Lucy. Okay. It was complicated. WAY complicated. Had given me me a headache in the beginning.

The thing I DID know was, that SOMEHOW, I got a key that connected me to this particular Lucy. A key making her my spirit. Or.. something. Getting into specific details would only add to the confusion, and I therefore tried to just treat my spirit self as a spirit. Another companion with a key in my keychain that just happened to have a striking resemblance to me.

"I like it here. I approve." spirit Lucy said, nodded to herself. She wore a pair of long, black pants and a t-shirt to go with it. Oh, and the stick. She had an old piece of wood that was somewhat like a magic wandering stick. At least Spirit Lucy had said it was magic. The extent of its use so far had been whacking Loke repeatedly on the head for being too dreamy. Calling him dreamy had of course, rather than making the guy back off, made him become all joyful and up for another round of relentless flirting with the worldy me, which would be me. It made up for the damage sustained by the magic stick to be called dreamy, apparently.

People were, of course, staring. There WAS another me there, after all. Another me with a loud mouth on her.

"Why aren't you bowing down before my Master, though? She's like the queen bitch amongst all ce.."

"Forced Closure." I said, sent both her and Virgo back for the time being. I groaned to myself, then started heading off to the mission board. I had quite a few new spirits as it happened. A set of keys that were, as far as I knew, not of this world.

"That is impressive, child. Summoning two spirits at the same time, and holding the ability to close their gates." Master praised me, and a smile grazed my lips. Only barely, as I remembered what had brought me to the stage of skill I currently found myself at.

"What can I say, I was surrounded by the best," I muttered, a silent reply not really meant for all to hear, but mayhap loud enough for those who strained their ears to hear it none the less.

"So you're Luigi? Hi, I'm Natsu?" and as if on queue, the main idiot decided to introduce himself, with a handshake no less. I was standing by the noticeboard, but now turned to look at him. I smiled at his lack of memory, still not serving him with the correct name.

"So... are you strong?" he asked as my hand met his.

"Well. I might not be as strong as you, Salamander..." I started, aware of his identity now at our first greeting. This time.

".. but I reckon myself strong, yes. Stronger than I was, though not as strong as I will be." I continued, let go of his hand as I stared at the board. What to take what to take. Hm.

"And the name's LUCY, you TWAT." I added as I suddenly punched him in the arm, hard enough for it to be felt.

"Master Lucy is the strongest Celestial Spirit Mage in the whole of Earthland," a male voice added, and I turned around in a flash only to see.. ugh...

Loke.

"Don't exaggerate, Loke, and what are you doing here anyways? Thought this was your day off. You even warned me about it in advance." I commented dryly.

"I came to check on my beloved, of course. I remembered when we first met, on a day much like this..." he trailed off, and I felt the pain that slowly moved across my face as I smiled.

"You were scared, back then. I remember. It has been quite a journey.. since then." I said, my hands falling to my sides as I remembered. Remembered my first time in this guild. The chaos. The laughter. The utter outrage.

I felt the tears spilling, then, as I also remembered what came at the end. Soft and silent, only a couple of them before I managed to gather myself again, turned to the mission board so I no longer had to look at the guilt-strikken face of Leo the Lion, Leader of my Zodiac Spirits. He knew that all this wasn't his fault, but I think he felt the need to correct that which had happened. It was silent in the room.

"It's a new start, Loke. A new beginning. What happened happened, but I will prevail. And the beginning starts with a mission. This one looks good." I ripped off a request, wiped my tears away. I needed to remain strong. Needed to keep my hopes up.

Slowly I made my way over to Master, eyes following me.

"I'm sorry to ask, but.. what happened to you?" the little man asked. I laughed.

"I sort of lost a lot of people I cared about very recently." I replied, very aware of the fact that Loke was standing beside me.

"I am sorry to hear that." Master said, and I chuckled.

"Don't be. Not your fault, after all, and besides, they're not dead. Just missing. See this black leather glove? The mark of my guild is on my hand, covered by this glove. Until I find them again, my family, the mark will remain hidden." I said.

"A whole guild, missing?" he questioned.

"Mhm. But I will find them." I replied, with all the confidence I could muster. I had learned from the best, after all. Natsu had always searched for his father, even as the days became weeks and the months became years. The old Natsu Dragneel, followed by the old Erza Scarlet and the old Gray Fullbuster and all the people in the guild I once was a part of seemingly so long ago, and that I once more found myself part of... None of them would ever forgive me should I ever choose to give up on them.

It wasn't the Fairy Tail way. Never had been. I would not be the one to start.

"After all, I am a Fairy, and a Fairy never gives up," I continued as I pointed on my new insignia, and then left out the door, paper in hand, cheering behind me. They agreed. A Fairy NEVER gives up. And I would find them, those people I knew. I would find a way to restore what once was, so I once more could gather with them and tell the stories of old, laugh at old jokes and go on missions with my Team and my partner. I WAS Lucy Heartfilia. Mage of Fairy Tail. Partner of Natsu Dragneel. Member of Team Natsu.

I would be that once more.

***Because I was bored. This story is divided into different semi-coherent parts that may or may not have anything to do with each other. Don't ask. Or do, if you should want to. Asking is not the issue here. The issue lays in finding an actual answer to such a question, if any questions at all are implied here. Okay. I'm confusing myself now. Way to go.

Oh, and by the way, I think I wrote this as a sort of intro. As in an introduction. Or something. Since the purpose of every chapter I ever write tends to change with my mood this might not remain a mere introduction, but for now it is. Good. I think that's it. Now I just need to come up with something else.

And oh yes, I noted a message of confusion in the last chapters. So there we were, three different happenings happening simultaneously. One in Earthland, one in Edolas, and one.. somewhere. The one that happened somewhere happened in a DREAM, folks. Just to clear things up. Lucy DREAMT that she stayed over for dinner at the Strauss house.

Anyways... I have stuff to make up***


	6. Chapter 6, 2nd Saga Part 1

***_I do not own Fairy Tail, nor its characters or its storyline. If I did, the number of fans would decline rapidly. Mainly because I'm not all that good. I am good enough, however, to post the occasional story on the fanfiction page, and even have the occasional reader. Can't ask for more, really._***

Once upon a time.. there was a princess. She was beautiful, the princess, and owned all that she could want in this life. Yet as she lived in her giant castle, the princess, with her fancy food and fancy clothing and fancy everything, she felt lonely.

And being lonely.. that is a terrible thing to be. The world is such a vast place, and facing it without anyone beside her would be sad, and terrifying.

And like that, the princess decided to leave all that fancy behind and go on a journey. And on that journey she would see many wonders, and many beautiful things before she reached her destination. THAT place was a castle too. A castle filled with dragons, and magic, and all those good things a good fairy tale with a good happy ending must have. And so the princess chose to stay. She thought her happy ending would be here.

But her hardships had yet to begin.

A terrible curse was put on the princess, a curse that would bring her back to that dark lonely place from the beginning. She was forgotten by the dragons and all those other people in the guild named Fairy Tail in the town called Magnolia.

And as such, the princess was alone once more...

* * *

There were good days, and bad days, even now. Bad days, when I felt that this was all for nothing. Bad days, when I thought about leaving Magnolia all together because clearly, they managed just fine.

These thoughts usually only lasted until I got up from bed, however. Until I could sit up, and see the remnants of my friends, the signs telling me that it wasn't all that long ago since they were here. Some clothing left around belonging to Gray. The half eaten box of candy eaten by Happy and Natsu. The scorched mark of Natsu on my bookshelf.

And the pictures. I had gotten paintings of Team Natsu, and they still remained on the bookshelf. I had hidden them away for now, in case.. but no one would come here. They didn't know where I lived.

* * *

I stared at my reflection, content with what I saw. Green dress reaching just above my knees, check. A device with keys and whip secured around my legs, check. Black stockings, check. Boots, check. To complete the look I had my side ponytail to keep my fringe at bay.

"You always use this much time in front of the mirror?" spirit Lucy asked from her seat on the bed.

"Shut up..." I replied, and sent her a look. She raised a brow at me.

"Well, fine, I can go back to that freaky place and have a talk with Aquarius or something. I won't be there for ya for this one. I hate the cold," Spirit Lucy replied.

"Well, remember your new name!" I yelled as she started glowing, and she pointed her tongue at me before she was gone. Spirit Lucy didn't like the spirit world. None of the new spirits I had liked the spirit world. Spirit Lucy was the only one to yet master the summoning process, however, so she made an appearance more often. The others needed help. They didn't always come. And they FORGOT their names. Their NEW names. Names after stars. They HAD gotten a say in what names that would be. A small say.

Spirit Lucy, for instance, had the name Phoenix. Self picked, obviously. My other spirits? Special. Very special. So VERY, VERY special...

* * *

"RUN run run run run run!" I muttered to myself as I ran towards the train station. I was late. I was SO late. So late that I had to run. Damn it!

The buildings rushed by until I skidded to a halt at the train station and ran for the ticket booth, bought a ticket and ran for the train. I think I saw Happy just outside the train before I boarded, and the train was set into motion.

"Made it..." I gasped as I sat down just next to the door, and then I heard a groan. Ah. Happy was just outside the train.

"You didn't make it off the train. I'll drag you off at my stop." I said smiling as I patted the bloated guy laying on the ground, so close yet so far away from his final exit. He groaned again, held back the bile threatening to come up. Poor guy.

Ah, just like old times. Okay, this WAS awkward.

* * *

"There we go. You can probably walk back from here." I said as I dumped the bloated body of Natsu Dragneel on the ground at the station. I had a wagon to catch, up towards the mountains. He groaned, raised a hand as if begging for help, and I smiled.

"You're hungry, aren't you? Well fine, I'll treat you before I go up in the mountains," I continued, and hoisted the Dragon Slayer on my back again, silently cursing myself for doing this, but doing it none the less. He had seemed out of it lately. Didn't hang out with Team Natsu as much as he used to. He didn't even talk that much to Lisanna, and THAT was weird. They always talked a lot. Well, not A LOT, but they WERE talking before. Not anymore. A few glances, perhaps, but no words.

And even though I had things to fix. Even though I ought to have places to be and other people to find, I had friends to help out too. This guy could need some cheering up after the solo missions he had been on lately, and the increased amount of training. And the occasional sitting outside staring at the sky. YES, I had noticed that he was distant these days. Maybe it was a temporary thing. Perhaps was it just this time a year. I had only been here for about a week, but even I knew it. He needed some cheering up. And first step towards that would be food. Besides, I knew of a place in the town beneath Mt. Hakobe. Yes, THAT was the mountain I was heading for.

The only reason why I hadn't been heading up there already would be because I wanted to make sure that everything was gone. When I entered the guild and took my walk over to Master I had been sensing all that was around me, searching for any kind of recognition. Because the person that had talked to me from behind a curtain in the hospital had told me the reason no one was there was because I was gone. Not THEM. ME. And I had doubted it, at first. But no one came to visit. No one came.

And when the doctor came he was looking at me with surprise, as if he didn't know why I was there. Upon seeing my injuries he let me stay, but the fact that he didn't know me...

The two of us entered the small inn, and the woman recognized the Salamander right away from the time he came down the mountain with that injured old man and they had to patch him up while they waited for the train. The local artist had even painted a picture of them as Natsu ate one of every dish on the menu.

They still hung on the wall.

"The train isn't treating you any better now, I see," the same young waiter greeted us as I placed Natsu in the booth we had been sitting in last time. She was a pretty little thing, with a long, brown ponytail and a cute apron with a paw on it.

"He'll have one of every thing on the menu," I said, and took up my wallet, started looking through it for the money to pay for it all.

"Sure thing. You want anything, miss?" she asked with that bright smile of hers.

"Hm, I think I'll have a milkshake. The Mango Special." I replied, and she smiled, went off to give the order to the chefs. Natsu was finally getting better, and was now looking at me oddly.

"What?" I asked. He just kept staring as if asking how. Then his stomach rumbled, and I laughed.

"I'm a Fairy Tail member, so I notice stuff, and you've been brooding." I said.

"Have not." he objected, and I just shook my head.

"You have. You haven't kicked Grays ass in how long, and you and Lisanna is like having a silent fight going on. That, and Team Natsu seems to be avoiding each other, you wander off on solo missions with Happy and.."

"You're the mystery lady!" a man cut me off, and I looked away from Natsu to look at the fat man with his thin grey hair and chefs hat that would be hiding the receding hairline. The Chef. Just like last time.

"Sorry?" I asked. The middle aged man grinned and pointed at the wall that was filled with pictures, and I felt myself flinch as I remembered that not only Natsu and Macao had been painted. As if to answer my question the man walked over to the wall, picked down a painting, walked over to us again.

"I remember every face, kid. I have worked here for over 30 years, and every picture on this wall. I remember what they ordered, where they sat, even most of their names. But one day I looked at that wall, and there you were. Smiling so brightly on that picture, but for the life of me I can't remember ever having seen you before," he said, and I looked at the picture. What to say... Hm. What I was looking at was a solo picture. A picture of me, smiling brightly as I was cuddled within a blanket that, thankfully, hid my former guild-mark. My hands, wrapped in that blanket, wrapped around a cup of hot coco, and I saw an arm, detached from its owner as the edge of the picture, loosely draped over my shoulder.

I recalled that. I had coached Natsu into sitting next to me because I was about to freeze to death. He had agreed, a bit grudgingly. At least I didn't end up with a cold that day.

"Yeah. That's me." I confirmed.

"Would you mind telling me what happened that day? I have never forgotten a customer, so maybe you can tell me what happened that day, eh?" he asked. The Chef that had ordered a coco for me, on the house, and the maid that had spent the time teasing me about my boyfriend, the very notion lost on the boy in question.

"It was a mission.." I started, but stopped.

"With your boyfriend?" the waiter teased, and my breathing hitched as I stared at her.

"No. Heh.. no. Not my boyfriend. Just.. a friend. I need to go." I got up, took out the money for the food.

"Here. This should cover the food. I really need to go." and I put the money down, left the inn before anyone could stop me.

"HEY! You're going to Mt. Hakobe, right? I need a ride!" I yelled, and the wagon stopped.

"Oi! LUCY!" I stopped for a moment to turn to Natsu that had left the inn and now yelled after me.

"It was my first mission. That picture. My first mission. See ya later!" I yelled back, and jumped on the wagon.

"You do know there's a snowstorm going on up in the mountains, right, girl?" the driver asked, and I smiled, nodded.

"Aren't there always?" I replied, sighed as the wagon was set into motion.

* * *

There were good days, and bad days, even now. Bad days, when I felt that this was all for nothing. Bad days, when I thought about leaving Magnolia all together because clearly, they managed just fine.

These thoughts usually only lasted until I got up from bed, however. Until I could sit up, and see the remnants of my friends, the signs telling me that it wasn't all that long ago since they were here. Some clothing left around belonging to Gray. The half eaten box of candy eaten by Happy and Natsu. The scorched mark of Natsu on my bookshelf.

On days when I was struggling my way through a snowstorm, like today, the question as to why I did this tended to keep popping up, however. That, and the question regarding the whereabouts of my cloak. Or any other kind of warm clothing.

The snow was falling, not like little white pieces of cotton from the sky, but like razor sharp pieces of ice, pounding me from ever changing directions as the wind turned and then turned again. And it was deep, up over my knees and deeper still in some places, freezing and cold and terrible. The sky was dark, or so I thought since I couldn't see it with all the falling razor sharp object trying their best to cut me to small frozen shreds of meat.

Okay, so maybe I was overreacting. The snow wasn't actually cutting me to shreds, it was just painful. Well, it WAS painful. I was sort of numb now.

* * *

I entered the cave. It was the cave from back then. It was empty, ice filled, cold and just like I remembered. How odd was that?

So I traced my fingers on the wall, backtracked through all that happened that day. How the Vulcan kidnapped me and brought me to THAT spot, dancing all around me. How Natsu made his entry from THERE. When he was tossed out through THAT hole... And when he knocked out Taurus right THERE.

I walked over to that very hole. I thought Natsu died that time. Just like that.

There was nothing there. Nothing at all indicating that things would go back to normal. I was tired, I was cold, and there was nothing there.

"Come on, Lucy, this is the first place. The FIRST place. He would never forgive you if you gave up after the FIRST place..." I said to myself, closed my eyes and steeled myself for the long walk home. I got to go to that inn again today. And I got to share a word or three with Natsu. He hardly talked to me these days. There was no reason to. We were on no missions together. We were planning to go on no missions. We were just two people that happened to be in the same guild.

"What're you looking for?" I turned around in a flash, almost slipped on the ice as I spotted the speaker.

"Natsu..." I said, confused by his appearance. Speaking of deja vu. Again. The only ones missing would be an angry Vulcan and Taurus.

"I.. I don't know what I'm looking for. A clue, I guess." I continued, a reply to his question. He just stood there.

"Why aren't you on your way back?" I asked him then. Still nothing.

"Well I'm going home now, so if you'll excuse m..." I took a step, and the ground decided to betray me. It decided to betray me, and I remembered how Natsus entrance had been on that mission. How he slipped and fell. And the hole he had been pushed out of by the Vulcan. The hole I now found myself sailing towards. Then the ground was gone, and razor sharp pieces of ice had at me again.

Once upon a time.. there was a princess. She was beautiful and grew up with all the fancies a heiress could grow up with. Yet with all that, she felt lonely, and being lonely.. that is a terrible thing to be.

***_And the 1st Chapter of the 2nd Saga is done. Congratulations. We shall meet again._***


	7. Chapter 7, 2nd Saga Part 2

***_And part two is up. I do not own Fairy Tail, nor its characters or its storyline._

_I need to make my summaries desirable or something. Or is fanfiction losing it's fame? Is it an international thing, this, with a decreased amount of writers as well as readers? My friend told me the other day that all her favorite writers have gone into hiatus, as in they have all but stopped updating their stories. Is there a new site I do not know about?_***

There were bad days and good day while I was alone, and that time, before my fairytale came to be, was a dark time, but also a necessary time, forming the one I was today. I remembered crying a lot back then. But always alone. Never in front of people. For I hated letting people see my tears. My father rarely saw me crying because of it. He KNEW that I cried, but he did not see my tears often.

I think.. I think Fairy Tail was the first to actually STOP my tears. They were the ones to teach me how to turn my tears into willpower.

But with them gone... my willpower left. When the ground betrayed me, I felt betrayed by the world itself. I felt betrayed, and mocked, since fate also decided to give me a single witness, that witness being the person that I had fought beside over and over and over again.

Of course, having fought beside him so many times... I should've known. He was an idiot. He was an idiot that beyond anything else acted on pure impulse without really thinking things through.

So the ground was slippery. I was about to head towards him, when I just.. slipped, and fell backwards. In the middle of a sentence. And even though it all happened really fast, I still noticed a lot of tiny little bits, not entering my brain quite chronologically, though it all fell into place upon being noticed.

I felt the ground give in, and I felt my gaze going from cave to the sky, the dark sky where all I could see was snow. Snow everywhere.

Then I remembered his look when I lost my footing, and I remembered the sound of his running feet, then I was back to the dark sky with the falling razor sharp snow.

Then I remembered his face as he neared me. I remembered the wind as the world was both over and beneath me. And then, after all that, my body seemed to notice the applied pressure around me, something it first now chose to wonder about and then resolved as all the clips and images fell into place in their proper places in space and time.

"Natsu what aRE YOU DOING?!" i yelled as I felt his arms around me, the two of us falling freely down into what might as well be the pits of hell. The fact that he took the leap with me did NOT make anything better. And of course, he didn't answer. Perhaps didn't he hear me through the wind and the snow and the flowing adrenaline.

And how weird was it then, that in between falling and remembering falling, and being scared and shocked and annoyed and.. and... I felt warm. And safe. Even though we were falling to our deaths.

"Hold on." he said then. He said it into my ear, and I... I closed my eyes, and let the idiot that had jumped with me take over.

* * *

Not another word was said as we made it back to the village beneath Mt. Hakobe. I was over talking. The stranger that just happened to be in the same guild as me had saved me.. again. And I was leaving the mountain severely chilled, and the wait for the train once more made us enter the inn that by now had all the food I had ordered earlier ready for us. For the idiot hadn't eaten. Idiot. And again, I was sitting next to him, clad in a blanket and with hot coco in my hands.

"Your lips are blue," the waitress commented.

"Coco will help me warm up. And Natsu, stop being gloomy." I replied, took a sip from my cup, grimaced when I burned my tongue.

"I'm not gloomy!" he retorted, and I raised a brow at him.

"You are. You're staring into space. Why am I not being splattered by excess food? Why aren't you eating?" I asked back.

"Who were with you on that picture?" he asked, waved a hand at the picture wall.

"My partner was." I replied, blew on my coco in hopes of cooling it some. Not that it would help me much. My tongue was already burnt.

"Where is he now?" he asked further, and I got a tad suspicious. How did he know it was a he? And why did he sound.. almost jealous? Or perhaps was it the gloominess. Probably was.

"We haven't really talked in a while. I messed up." I replied, took another sip of my warm drink. It was better now. Less scorching. And everything felt better because once more everything was seemingly normal. We were sitting here, like we so often used to sit somewhere after a mission, with a lot of food on the table in front of us. And of course, the mission had included a close call, but not really a close call. We both survived. When the boy was just looking at me, I bowed forward, took a piece of bread, chewed it thoughtfully, swallowed.

"Now EAT, idiot," I muttered as I settled back into my seat, moving my legs towards me, secure under blankie. He stared some more in silence, before a grin spread across his face.

"You smell funny," he said, and I saw a glimpse of confusion in his eyes as he said that. Confusion, since he, perhaps, I didn't dare get my hopes up, but he MIGHT be remembering SOMETHING. ANYTHING. And I smiled. I smiled one of my old smiles, because that meant that going up in the mountains might've not been such a waste after all.

"Okay, people, let's commemorate this with a memorable picture this time!" an old man with thick greying hair said. The same artist, and I looked up at him, just as I felt the warm arm of the Salamander snaked its way over my shoulder and brought me closer to him.

"EAT." I ordered again, and he sent me a strange look before he started eating, without letting me go.

* * *

FLASHBACK

_You will be no one. Nameless. Worthless. They will not recall your deeds. HE will not even remember your name. I cannot take your memories anymore, little princess, but I can take the rest of your fairytale away._

FLASHBACK END

* * *

"Come on. We're back in Magnolia and on SOLID ground. Get up," I attempted to order the bloated corpse-ish entity on the ground, on the train station.

"You're just faking this aren't you because you've had some secret breakdown no one knows about," I muttered to myself as I hoisted the blobby being on my back again and headed for the guild. He groaned as a sort of reply and I snorted.

I helped him along for a few paces, contemplating on what to do next when I decided that today was enough for a while. I wanted to go home, curl into a ball, and maybe read a book in utter silence. Maybe eat a sandwich. I needed to go to the shopping mall first, of course, but it beat going back to the guild, where people would be partying and laughing and drinking, without knowing more than the fact that I was a newbie, a newbie that joined the guild a week ago.

So I dropped the guy, lucid just around now, and he stood there looking at me in that same odd way.

"I'm going home now. Cheer up, Natsu. Beat Gray to a pulp or something. Go on a mission with Team Natsu." I said, punched him lightly on the shoulder, then started walking towards my home. I had places to be. I had things to fix up. Didn't mean I shouldn't try to cheer up my friends when they obviously needed it.

"Team Natsu doesn't exist!" he yelled after me, and I lifted a hand in goodbye.

"Does too!" I yelled back as I continued walking. Stupid idiot and his stupid ways.

"Lucy?"

"KYAAA!" I shrieked and jumped to the side since Natsu suddenly was there beside me again.

"What?" I asked him, stopped walking and held a hand on my chest as I attempted to calm my racing heart. He almost gave me a heart attack!

"Ah.. nothing. Are you coming to the guild later tonight?" he asked.

"Probably not." I replied. Then I stopped dead as something occurred to me.

"Why not? Come!" he coached, and I looked at him. He didn't seem to notice the change in mood. How long had I been admitted? I HAD been out of the hospital for nearly two weeks now.

"Oh. Okay... I'll think about it. I just need to freshen up some." I said then. Turned and started walking again.

"Lucy?" he asked, and I held back another scream, kept walking this time.

"Hm?"

"Can I..." he stopped talking, looking uncomfortable. I felt uncomfortable. So I sighed, gave in.

"Fine. I'll come with you." I grumbled and turned around, started heading for the guild again. I noticed him walking beside me, his hands behind his head.

"I'm hungry." he stated, and I sighed. Of course he was. Even after all the food he had eaten, he was hungry.

* * *

"Natsu!" Happy the cat yelled as we entered the guild, and I continued on after the Salamander was distracted by his feline partner, towards the mission board.

What to pick. I needed something that was quick and that covered at least the 70.000 jewels it would cost to pay off the rent this time around.

"Lucy saved me. YOU left me to DIE!" I heard in the background as Natsu and Happy was having another one of their fights. Ignore it. They'll figure it out. This is Happy and Natsu. They'll figure it out, or better yet, Lisanna will work it out. In the meantime I needed to find a job.

"Miss Lucy?" a voice called, and I grabbed a flyer, turned around.

"Ah. I payed my bills. I'm pretty sure I payed THOSE bills, right?" I asked the boy, a boy with a long ponytail keeping his black hair at bay, and wearing white hospital clothing. He just glared at me, making me shrink back.

"We found your charts today, you know. Do you know what they said?" he asked, and I grimaced.

"Ah... you found the charts." I said. I thought I'd hidden those. Hidden them well. Should've burned them. In retrospect, I definitely should've burned them.

"You were supposed to be admitted for over a month." he started.

"But I'm alright. See?"

"You were suffering from.."

"I AM ALRIGHT." I yelled in order to stop him from continuing

"Is there a problem, Kirk? It's been a while since you last came in talking about letting out Fairy Tail members too early." Master Makarov commented from his place on the bar counter. I'd never seen Kirk to be honest, but he might be one of those that just came and went every so often. There were quite a few of those. Since I used to be surrounded by friends I didn't always notice those people. I did now, however, especially since this particular person was referring to me, in front of me, and very loudly.

"Lucy no last name escaped..."

"Walked out.."

"ESCAPED from our hospital without a word..."

"I left a NOTE, and money to pay my stay off."

"She left the hospital without telling anyone, and after being admitted with most of her bones and organs broken, damaged or ruptured! What is WRONG with you people!" he almost screeched. Yeah, I should've burned those charts.

"I heal fast!" I tried defending myself. Wendy had been in too and helped me get better too, something that it would be.. awkward, mentioning.

"I GIVE UP! Come back when you realize that your broken body isn't going to keep functioning!" he exclaimed, tossed his hands in the air and left.

"Does he do that.. often?" I asked after he was out of the building. Master shrugged.

"Every now and then. We get our fair share of injuries in this guild. Usually it is about Natsu, Gray or Gajeel, though," he said, didn't seem all that worried. Then he set his eyes in me.

"What did you do, though?" he questioned, and I paused.

"There was a Festival in Hargeon last month, wasn't there?" I asked as I read through the flyer, my apparent new mission.

"Yes, Natsu had a mission there. The house with all the firework exploded and half a block was caught up in the explosion because of it." Master replied.

"Yeah, I bet Fairy Tail took the blame for that one too." I laughed as I made my way over to Master, handed him the flier.

"That day I was in an accident, and I was gone for a while. It was when I woke up again that I got to know that my guild was gone. Now I have rent to pay, so I need you to approve this, so I don't get kicked out of my apartment," I said, simplified the process.

_*You will be no one. Nameless. Worthless*_

Like hell I would be. I would just check up on all the places I had been, and if I found nothing there, I would keep looking. A Fairy Tail mage never gives up. Master Makarov Dreyar signed it off, said something about his children being resilient bastards and I was heading for the doors again. That was when I felt the drain. My magic was depleting fast, and I felt myself pale in the middle of the room.

"LOKE." I said firmly, and the moment after he was there.

"Darling, it really have been too long!" he said, but I sent him a killer glare.

"Is Draco attempting to summon himself again?" I asked, started breathing heavily as the drain was getting stronger. And Loke grimaced. He GRIMACED.

"Stop him. Stop him RIGHT NOW, or I'm going to..." I fell to my knees.

"Yeah.. about that. He's already here.. somewhere."

"WHAT?!" I yelled.

"He's been in this world for a few hours. Don't worry, Virgo is looking for him and we'll find him sooner or later.."

"That aside, WHO is summoning themselves then? Draco is usually the one to rage off with too much magic and then end up on the other side of town. SOMEONE is doing that now!" I said through clenched teeth.

"Hm. Aquarius is taking care of Phoenix, AND Hydra. Have to be Orion. Orion has been restless lately, and you know how she is when she's.."

That was when I lost consciousness.

***_I have noticed thos the majority of all chapters in this story ends in cliffhangers. Oh well. Shit happens. And I REALLY need to make my summaries desirable._***


	8. Chapter 8, 2nd Saga Part 3

***_I do not own Fairy Tail, nor its characters or its storyline._***

"Damn. Lucy? Darling?" the person named Loke asked the girl as she lay unconscious on the ground, and he then lifted her up in his arms, started heading for the guild entrance.

"What was that?" Natsu Dragneel asked, confused by this sudden outburst from the girl that had been acting so normal up until today. Usually sitting by herself, he had noted her presence without really thinking much of it, until this day, when she had patted his head on the train, and then even dragged him off and bought him food.

That in itself had been odd, but then he had followed her up in the mountain, seen her walking around in some icy cave, and when she slipped, he had found himself panicking for a mere second. She was family. Of course he would've saved her in any case. Of course he would've jumped. He didn't question that part of his reaction. The part he DID question was the feeling of panic. Lucy WAS family, but she was still a stranger.

So he asked the guy now. The guy that appeared from seemingly nowhere, a spirit according to Levy. She had given a brief explanation when Lucy first appeared. Spirits, summoned and utilized like weapons, perhaps a bit like Erzas magic, but in the shape of living things.

"I don't have time for you, Salamander," Loke replied cooly. Perhaps was it unlike him, but he was acting that way in either case.

"Is she injured?" Master asked instead then, and Loke turned, his face distant as he seemed to be contemplating his options. Then a crooked smile stretched across his face, making some girls woe at his charm even without him trying. He looked like a playboy, probably was.

"Lucy is exhausted, is all." he said, and kept on walking. They did not see it, but it was gone as soon as he turned around again, that crooked smile. Gone, replaced by a serious face.

* * *

He was worried for his master, Leo the Lion Spirit. Worried because she was taking on all this on her own. She feared for her friends, so she locked them all out and wanted to face this new enemy without them, even though she joined Fairy Tail.

Had she been able to, there was no doubt about the fact that she would've locked her spirits out too. Locked them out and shouldered the weight of all that had happened on her own shoulders. But they would not let her. She needed the help. And the support. With the way she was crying NOW, one could only wonder how she would be had she faced all this alone.

Confusing? Let us rewind.

About a month ago, there was this incident. It happened during a festival in Hargeon, a seemingly easy mission that involved setting up booths and fireworks. Then something went wrong, and the mage named Lucy died. Not almost died. She died. Her heart stopped beating and she stopped breathing.

And of course, this created chaos. All her spirits that had been out at that time were forced back to the spirit realm, and to make matters worse, all contracts she had were dissolved. One could actually argue about the timing of their withdrawals, but the end result that day remained the same. Lucy died, and as she died all that was bound to her was broken.

A lot of CPR, emergency healing and arguments with the Spirit King himself later, and Leo the Lion, leader of the Zodiac Spirits, found himself with a valid contract once more as he summoned himself a few days later to check on her. Or few days? More like TEN days. He had waited until her condition was at a stage where any drain wouldn't result in complications. Yes, he could summon himself almost without using any magic from her at all, but it was better safe than sorry.

What met him, however, was shocking.

* * *

Loke summoned himself into her room, stood in the shadows for a moment since he was checking out the current lay of the land so he could make an entrance. Until he noticed that the sneaky approach was of no use, since the bed of his master was unattended by.. anyone. Odd. It wasn't lunchtime or anything, and he would've figured that at least Natsu or Levy would be sitting restlessly beside the blonde girl until she was released.

Since there were no considerations to be made, and since Lucy was awake, he merely walked into view in a casual manner, lifted a hand as a greeting.

"Yo." he said, and the girl jumped. His brows furrowed at her eyes, empty and.. perhaps a bit hopeless. As if she had heard some really bad news recently. Like someone else getting hurt, or perhaps something about her current condition being worse than he realized.

"Loke. Wh..What are you doing here?" she questioned, and the furrow grew deeper as he stopped smiling.

"Checking on you, of course. You gave us all a scare, you know. Even Aquarius was freaking out." he replied, remembering that particular event. That had been a minor natural catastrophe in itself, involving a lot of tsunamis and swearwords. Perhaps a few tears, though no one would ever mention them. Ever.

"So you remember me." Lucy continued, her eyes at that moment filled with tears, and the Lion Spirit was starting to freak out a little.

"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I? We have a contract and we belong to the same guild. Why are you asking that?" he started talking, walking all the way from the end of her bed to her side, lifting her chin up to look her in the eyes. Her injuries were thankfully all but gone, probably with good help from Wendy and maybe even Porlyusca. She was still exhausted, but that would be better with rest.

"Lucy.. what's wrong?" he asked.

* * *

That would be when his master had broken down completely, and the next hour or so was spent on soothing her enough for her to hiccup the reason behind her distress. Lucy had told him, between sobs, her fears. There had been a man, and that man had, without showing his face, told her that she was forgotten. That no one remembered her.

Of course Lucy had doubted that, until the first doctor came by, and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw her, a girl he had never seen before, in a hospital bed that according to him and all the nurses and doctors to come told her shouldn't be occupied. And then there was the distinct lack of visitors.

Loke couldn't do much other than walk with long strides to the guild, looking for the people that made her worry this much. And fair enough, in the guild he was, Natsu Dragneel, eating some meal again in between training and missions. And Loke had asked the boy why he wasn't at the hospital. The reply? Loke, a member of Fairy Tail for almost two years, was asked by the Salamander about who he was.

Conveying these news to Lucy had resulted in more tears, before she had managed to compose herself and get Loke to hide her charts, still in existence and telling the doctors that she was to remain hospitalized for a while longer before he could get her home. And the struggle began. Not with the bringing her home part. The struggle REALLY began at the point where Spirit Lucy suddenly made her first appearance, almost draining all the magic in Lucys body, telling the poor girl that oh yes, there was more to this than a mere memory wipe.

A lot more.

* * *

So yes. Leo the Lion, leader of the Zodiac spirits, nicknamed Loke and belonging to Lucy Heartfilia, was worried. But there was not much he could do. He could attempt to keep the new spirits in the spirit realm while he attempted to educate them in the art of summoning, not an easy task one might add since the summoning part was something he did not know much of the mechanics behind in the first place, and he could be there to support his master.

Even though Lucy at the moment WAS killing herself. For indeed she was. She was strong. She was stronger and kinder than many mages he knew, but this was ridiculous. She was alone in this vast world, with five ticking time-bombs that dared call themselves spirits, and facing an unknown enemy with unknown strengths and no known weaknesses, all while meeting up at the guild only to be reminded of the fact that all she had fought for was pretty much gone.

And since SOMEONE was out to get her, she refused to ask for help. And she had made Loke promise not to blow her cover. So YES, he had acted cooly when he replied Natsu. Because even with this odd magic that made him forget, he OUGHT to remember. He OWED it to her to remember. For he was the only one that might be able to coach her into asking for help.

Or the enemy would win. Lucy Heartfilia might really be gone from this world. And as things stood, her passing would go all but unnoticed.

As he placed her in her bed and tucked her in, Loke sighed. Even in her sleep she had no peace. Silent tears ran down her face. Had she been aware of his presence she would've held them back. For even though he knew she cried, she always attempted to avoid showing him or anyone else her tears. Lucy Heartfilia was STRONG. KIND. And she was RESILIENT.

"This really is a mess," Loke muttered to himself as he sat down on the floor by the bed, dragged a tired hand through his hair and sighed loudly again. Hopefully Draco would be found and accounted for soon, and hopefully the idiot that had tried summoning her of himself had given up upon making Lucy faint. The higher powers up there knew that one idiot out there was more than enough.

* * *

MEANWHILE

"Where am I?" the boy attempted to ask the girl in the maids outfit. She was sitting next to him, staring straight ahead and looking annoyed.

"Virgo?" he tried making contact, grimaced when she once more ignored him completely, her pale blue eyes fixed on the opposite seating. The two of them were on a train. Not because he had been summoned there, but because he had summoned himself into a town and the found himself stranded. Lucy COULD close his gate forcefully, but to do that she needed to be nearby. So he sighed, dragged a hand through his pink hair and looked out the window.

The world was passing by, so much more real than the spirit world. After arriving in that surreal realm Draco had learned to appreciate the beauty of green trees, a blue sky and white clouds floating about up there rather than wherever. He also saw his reflection in that same window, noted his black t-shirt with the rad flame on it, and the beige loose pants.

"Are we there yet?" he asked after staring at the passing world out there, and sent a side glance at his captor. She was annoyed, clearly, since he HAD decided to summon himself, and since he, without meaning to do so, had broken down a few walls in frustration since his new strength was unfamiliar and very VERY destructive and since he had ended up very far away from his initial destination. Not like he had meant to destroy anything. He had apologized profusely afterwards, but they still yelled and called him Salamander even though his name at present was Draco, a name meaning Dragon. Had he chosen Lacerta, meaning Lizard, the nickname thrown after him would've been justified.

"We will get there soon." Virgo replied, and closed her mouth so it returned to being that thin line again.

Infants, they were called. Infants in the Spirit world. They had been brought forth to the Spirit King, and he had not known what to do with them. They were too strong, and too unfamiliar with the system. Then Orion had stepped forward, bowed in front of the leader of this new world, and given him a solution. For he knew of Lucy Heartfilia, did he not? And regarding the issue with power... Orion had a solution to that as well.

The world they all came from had an element of suppression. Silver, a metal that would Bind their powers. Pure silver. So Draco had silver earrings inserted in order to not kill the Celeatial mage upon being summoned.

But Draco was called an infant. Even with the silver, the art of moving between the spirit realm and Earthland required skill. Or SOME skill. More than he had. Phoenix got a hang of it almost right away. The rest of the infants drew too much power, and the summoning spots were not easily pinpointed.

"Is she alright?" Draco asked then. For he was worried too. He might be an infant, but he worried for Lucy, that had opened her arms wide and welcomed all those infants, with all their faults and mistakes and even promised to fix the mess made. She had promised to bring them home, and today.. she had needed help. And though he was not good at the art of summoning or being summoned, he had sensed the danger and he had attempted to be there and rescue her. And he ended up in a town, Lucy being nowhere in sight.

"She's alright." the Zodiac Spirit confirmed, and he felt relieved. Thank goodness. She was alright.

"Salamander?" a small voice called out, and Draco looked up to see a small child holding the hand of his father. At least Draco assumed the older male to be the father. There was a similarity to the two of them, so they ought to be related, at the least.

"Ah, hello kid." Draco replied while smiling. He was sort of fond of children, and this one seemed so obviously thrilled to see him.

"You're Salamander, right? From Fairy Tail? I've seen you in magazines!" the child continued. He was young. Maybe five years old, and Draco smiled.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm Draco. I'm a Spirit." he said, and the kid grew wide eyed.

"Like a ghost?" the little one asked.

"Ah.. no. Not like a ghost. I am a Celestial Spirit. I have a contract with a Celestial mage kind of making me.. hers." Draco tried explaining.

"What?" the boy questioned. And Draco smiled.

"No worries. Look at this.." he let his hand flame up.

"Cool, isn't it?" he continued as the kid awed.

"Draco. Need I remind you that you are STILL grounded after setting half a block on fire?" Virgo commented cooly, looking at him, and he grimaced, let the flame go out.

"Yeah... sorry, kid, the lady's right. I broke a BIG part of a town," he said apologetically, and the boy laughed before he moved on.

"Was he glad..?" Draco began. One of the things he never seemed to fully comprehend was the apparent joy that came with the knowledge that Fairy Tail brok a lot of things.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail, Draco." Virgo said, and he noticed a smile playing on the edge of her lips.

"You're not thinking about the destruction, are you?" he commented.

"No." she replied.

"You're thinking about the crying." he stated. Not a question. Sometime while apologizing profusely the tears had made their appearance. It had freaked a lot of people out. The reputation of the real Salamander might very well be destroyed.

"Yes I am." Virgo sent him a look, then turned forward again.

"He deserves that rumor going around. He promised to stop her tears, and now he has made her cry," she put in, and her eyes was once more glued to the opposite seatings, without really seeing anything at the moment.

"So.. when are we.." Draco began.

"Just be silent." Virgo interrupted him. She was back to being cold and annoyed once more.

"Okay." he agreed, and started staring out the window again.

***_This is the ending chapter in that saga, again. And I am out of ideas. Again. Hopefully I will come up with something new once more before too much time come to pass. Until that time comes, however, I will once more declare Festivals and Other Disasters as finished_.***


	9. Chapter 9, 3rd Saga Part 1

***_I do not own Fairy Tail, nor its characters or its storyline_***

The train halted at Magnolia Station some time after sunset, at a place in time when few would be wandering about in the streets or anywhere else for that matter since most would be fast asleep at this hour. As such, the arrival of the two that DID get off that particular train went all but unnoticed, and no one that did notice them, that being the conductor and the night shift at the ticket booth, got close enough to recognize any of them.

Silently they walked the streets, the maiden, and the boy that had never set foot in the town of Magnolia before, even though he would be widely recognized as a familiar face around these parts of Fiore. They did not utter a word, so the only sound would be their feet against the cobbled ground.

As they neared the house upon which their master resided Virgo halted for a moment, and then she pressed the handle down and entered, Draco right behind her.

"You found him," came the tired comment from Loke as the two of them entered the bedroom, and Virgo bowed before she started glowing and was gone without another word.

"She's out like a candle, as you can see, so it would seem you're stuck here for a while longer." he continued, directed at the new arrival as he got up from his position on the floor by the bed and stretched his tired limbs.

"Did I do that?" Draco asked, well aware of the fact that he was quite capable of draining his current master to the brink of exhaustion, the state of which she seemed to be in at the moment, laying in the bed as she was, well tucked in and sleeping soundly.

"You might've contributed some, but no. You did not cause her to faint. Someone else did. I'm going to investigate who when I return to the Spirit world, but I think it might've been Orion. Will you be alright to watch out for her for the rest of the night?" he continued, and Draco nodded. Before any further ado Loke disappeared back to the spirit world, and Draco walked over to the bed, looked down at the sleeping girl.

She seemed peaceful, the girl, rather than in pain, a telltale sign that the worst exhaustion had come to pass. So she HAD indeed fainted from exhaustion according to Loke, the strongest amongst her original spirits. Draco had taken that chance when he chose to attempt rescuing her, since he would very well manage to save even if she lost consciousness. That was the plan, but he had failed to include the danger of misplaced summoning in his reasoning.

Someone had thankfully managed to save the day none the less. He was glad.

He continued then, over to the couch, slumped down and yawned. It had been a long day. He would wake up quickly enough should something occur, but he saw no reason not to lay down and get some sleep while he was here. It might be lae, but it would be long until the sun rose again.

* * *

I woke up in my bed, remembering the day before all to clearly, all the way to the part where I fainted in the middle of the guild. And I stared at the ceiling, wondering for perhaps the umpteenth time if things really could go back to the way they were, and if they really needed to. What if I just.. gave up? If I moved away and started some new life no one would know.

But then again, giving up was like admitting defeat. And as a Fairy Tail mage admitting defeat was not an option. And besides, if I started a new life in a new place there was no guarantee that the person that had done this would just leave me alone. Living in fear of being deleted over and over again was not living at all.

And the situation I found myself in made this place the most ideal place to be for the time being. I had a place to live here. I knew the lay of the land and knew the basic characteristics of the people surrounding me. Should the being approach me again I needed all the advantages I could muster. Unless I could avoid it I would not include Fairy Tail, but having them there as mental support did wonders for my confidence. They made me feel safe.

So I sat up in my bed, looked about and took in my surroundings. The scorch marks on my bookshelf. My dresser that had clothes belonging to Gray tucked well into them, hidden beneath my own clothes. And then… I would assume it to be Draco sleeping on my couch. I also noticed the flyer on my table and recalled the mission I had decided to go on yesterday, before I needed to be carried home and tucked to bed.

Since he seemed to be pretty out of it I decided to let him be while I did my morning routine, washing my face and getting dressed and brushing my hair. I was well into making breakfast before a very sluggish Draco made his way to the kitchen, yawning loudly and rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"You hungry?" I asked him, and he blinked to get rid of some sleep from his eyes before he managed a nod, and I smiled to myself, kept frying eggs and bacon while he sat down at the kitchen table.

"When did you come in last night?" I asked casually while preparing breakfast, curious and at the same time attempting to start a conversation to fill the silence.

"Late. I apologize for summoning myself yesterday…" he replied, and I emptied the content of the frying pan over on two plates, turned over to him and gave him one of them. Seemed like ages since I cooked for more than just me, though it really hadn't been all that long.

"It's alright. What's done is done. How are you and the others handling it over there, by the way? I know the spirit world isn't exactly like your own world. Phoenix says that the place you came from was less.. surreal." I continued as I started nibbling on my food, looking at the guy in front of me, eating his food with a tact I never would've margined him being capable of with the way he looked and all.

"Mhm. This is delicious," he approved my statement and my cooking skills with less than five words. We ate in silence for a while, finishing our meal before I got up and started on the dishes.

"Want to go on a mission with me today?" I asked as I stacked the plates away before I turned back to him.

"You mean the one on the table?" he questioned, and I nodded.

"Sounds like fun. You sure you're up for it though? Leo seemed pretty agitated last night. He thinks you're overexerting yourself," Draco replied then. his brows furrowed in worry.

"I'll be fine." I reasoned and he got up from his seat and followed me into my bedroom as I grabbed my keys and my whip and secured them on the straps on my thighs. Yes, I wore a dress again, today. A white and simple one, bought for warm and sunny days such as today.

"It looks good on you." Draco commented as I searched for and located my house keys and headed for the door. I didn't stop, only turned my head halfway around to look at him.

"What does?" I asked. We exited my apartment, and I locked the door, once more remembering what an odd habit that was. My apartment had always been easily accessible, yet no one but my friends had ever broken in.

"Your dress. It looks good on you." Draco replied, and I turned to him, smiling broadly as the compliment swelled within me.

"Thanks!" I said, patted him on the head since it felt so proper. The way he was looking at me right now… it wasn't as if he was flirting. More like a praise to…

"You know, you're a bit like my mother." he commented, and my grateful smile faltered a little. What..?

"I don't mean it in a bad way or anything! I just… You named me. And you took me in, gave me a place to stay, and.. well.. you cook for me. You take care of me, and all the others and you don't expect anything in return," he explained quickly as he saw my expression change, and my almost attack stopped. I was about to hit him for insinuating that I was old, but now… I sighed, and dropped the smile, staring at him without really staring at him at all.

From time to time.. it was a relief to let go of everything. Just stand there in the moment and remember all that was different.

"Lucy?" Draco asked, probably seeing my distant gaze, and I was pulled back into the now and my gaze finally focused on the being I at the moment stood in front of.

"I'm being a bit selfish, you know. Well, actually quite selfish. You look a lot like him, after all," I answered his earlier reasoning.

"That partner of yours?" he asked, and I turned again, the both of us heading for the train station. Todays mission wasn't all that far away, but it did require a short train ride to get there.

"Mhm." I confirmed.

"Will I ever meet him?" Draco asked then, and I laughed to myself.

"Probably best if you don't." I replied.

"Why not?" he asked. What a question…

"It'll raise a lot of questions, and if I can I want to avoid getting Fairy Tail too involved." I explained while we bought tickets to the train.

"Why?" he asked again as we boarded.

"This is my mess." I replied.

"The way I see it, it's that persons mess." Draco retorted as we found a place to sit, and the train was set into motion.

"It's mine. I KNOW that man from somewhere. I'm not sure how I know him, but he's dangerous. And I also know that I am the best bet to defeat him." I said again. My mess. My job to fix. It really was that simple.

"How do you know that?" Draco asked in turn.

"He told me. He told me that he couldn't erase my memories anymore." I replied. Yes, his words had been grim, and he HAD told me that he would take the rest of my fairytale away, but I had caught up on the part where he said that he could NOT erase me.

"Leo the Zodiac told me as much. He also informed me that you suspect the otherworldly contracts to keep us safe as well." Draco continued.

"I don't know that." I tried arguing.

"But it makes sense." he retorted.

"It makes sense." I agreed grudgingly.

"Then don't shut us out." Draco continued.

"I'm not shutting you out." I defended myself.

"But you want to." he said back.

"So?" I questioned. Wanting to keep all those close to me out of harms way was no crime.

"Include us, or at least some of us. We worry." Draco said then. Again with the plural. He was indeed becoming one of the gang.

"Phoenix checks on me all the time. So does Loke and Virgo." I said. Yes, I WANTED to keep them safe. Wasn't like they let me. I was with someone during the majority of my nights, only the days left open, but then I would usually be out in the open, at the guild or on some mission.

"Do you at all have a plan?" Draco asked.

"No…" I grumbled, a bit on the defensive, and he sighed, as I sort of expected.

"I take back the part where I said you're sort of like my mother…" he said.

"Good." I replied, stubbornly, but awaited his continuation.

"You're like my little sister, you are." he continued.

"What does THAT mean?" I asked. I felt oddly insulted without the sentence in itself being all that bad.

"That you're in way over your head, and refuse help. I won't let you do this alone." Draco said. Oh, he was staking his demands, was he?

"I'd like to see you try, hotshot." I replied dryly.

"Well, I'll…"

"Forced closure." I said simply, cutting him off mid sentence, and gone he was, from the train, back into the spirit world. Rather convenient, really. If getting rid of Natsu was that easy my.. former.. life would've been a lot easier.

***_Await more fun in the morrow!_***


	10. Chapter 10, 3rd Saga Part 2

***_I hope I amuse you, my dear readers. All thirty or so of you. I know I know, I'm strange, and this story is strange, but apparently not as strange as the writer. Again, that would be me. And by the way, I still do not own Fairy Tail, nor its characters or its storyline. Still figuring out what to do with this story, but at least I have managed to reduce my ranting.. a little_***

He was having a reasonably calm evening. The mission he had set out on had been successful, with minor damaging to the surroundings, that being said it was sort of bad that he had managed bringing a building to the ground when the job involved cleaning it. Which he had. After destroying it.

At the moment the male was sitting at a landly inn, an inn run by an old lady that had met him countless times before when similar incidents had forced him to flee from town. She already knew his orders, a cup of tea and a bowl of whatever soup of the day she would have on the stove. Okay, so he wasn't much of a tea-drinker, the boy, but it belonged to this particular setting.

So Gray Fullbuster was sitting outside, enjoying the sun and sipping his tea when he heard the distant sound of screaming. And he might've gotten up and headed for the sound, had it not been for it heading in his direction. And fast.

And so she appeared, Lucy, a Fairy Tail mage. A fellow Fairy Tail Mage, dressed in a white dress, that was running exceedingly fast, and with good reason, seeing the Wyvern that was flying after her, just then roaring out a good amount of fire, making her shriek louder and roll out of the way, grabbing for something that looked like a whip in the process.

Then, as she stood there, ready for battle and about to strike, she suddenly started staggering, and cursed before she fell unconscious to the ground. Finally Gray was forced into action as he started running for her body, yelling in order to distract the flying beast as it was about to finish the job, cursing since he saw that he might not make it in time, when all of a sudden.. it disappeared within a ball of fire.

And Gray Fullbuster stopped. He stopped because the one to protect the fellow Fairy Tail member looked very much like a Fairy Tail member himself.

"Yo." he greeted, the Ice mage, and the Fire Mage turned to look at him, his dark eyes filled with conflicting emotions.

"You must be Gray. Leo the Zodiac have told me much about you." the boy replied, dragged a hand through his pink hair as he grimaced, looked down on the blonde again.

"I am Draco." Draco continued, and then proceeded to lift up the limp girl to his arms.

Draco. He wore a black t-shirt and white loose pants, and his hair was pink. No scarf, however. And.. he sort of looked older. In his mid twenties or so. This was NOT Natsu Dragneel, but he looked awfully like him, and so did his powers.

"What are you?" Gray asked, a bit shocked by the fact that such a being had appeared from nowhere, showing such ability and then just brushing him off. Draco. A name that meant The Dragon. And indeed did he hold the strength of one it would seem, since the Wyvern had been reduced to nothing by his flames. And the way he held the girl.. as if she was made of glass, and at the same time as if she weighed nothing at all.

"Hello, there, Lady. I'll have two bowls of that soup you got going there, 'kay?" Draco said as he sat down outside that same landly inn, the girl still in his arms, and he managed to get hold of Lucys wallet to pay for the food as he placed her, carefully as if not to wake her, next to him on the bench, her head resting on his lap.

In the meantime Gray Fullbuster, confused beyond belief, wandered back to his seat, sat down and sipped at his tea again while staring at the Dragon Slayer lookalike. The old lady just took the money offered and left to ready the orders without a word.

"Who are you?" Gray asked again, and Draco fixed his gaze on the younger male.

"I already told you, boy. I am Draco. I know I look like that other fellow you know, but I am not him." he replied, his eyes reserved.

"So you're a dragon?" Gray questioned further. The other male might not look like it, but looks had deceived before.

"No, I am not a dragon. I am Draco. I protect Lucy from harm." Draco said. The old lady came out just then, with two deep bowls of steamy hot vegetable soup by the looks of it. The same stuff Gray already had in front of him.

"Thank you," Draco said, smiled politely and the woman smiled a broad, toothless grin back, and then left back inside to continue with whatever it was that she was doing.

"I am her protector, because her protector no longer wants to protect her for some odd reason," Draco continued, back to business and almost borderline furious. It was a calm rage, telling the Ice mage that whoever this other protector was, he ought to watch out should this person ever come across him or her. Draco seemed to be a capable mage. It was something about the way he held himself, as if he was brimming with power, even though he did nothing to seem intimidating. That was partly why Gray had asked him if he was a dragon. A Dragon protecting his Princess.

They sat silent for a while, just eating their respective soups, no other sound being heard, perhaps except the wind rustling through the leafy trees, and the birds chirping and flying about. It really was a nice day. A nice and sunny day, with only a few white clouds moving swiftly over the skies. The wind had to be really strong way up there. All the while Lucy remained unconscious, though she seemed to be slowly coming to.

"You do know we're from the same guild." Gray commented after a while.

"I do. Do you?" Draco retorted. The question was odd, like the look in his eyes, reserved yet pleading for an answer Gray felt he did not know the content of.

"What does that mean?" Gray asked. Draco looked down on the girl then, a look of worry on his eyes before his eyes hardened, and he then looked up to stare at the Ice mage, mysteriously without his shirt or pants. They had been missing for a while, but it didn't matter. He was not naked, and Draco didn't CARE. The only thing he cared for, was the fact that the answer provided was not sufficient, and as such, the circle would remain broken.

"Apparently it doesn't mean anything to you. Nothing means anything to you." he spelled out to him, and then he grimaced when his hand lit fire. Still, after all this time, he had issues controlling these flames. They came with emotions. Usually violent emotions, but also with fear, and sometimes even excitement. As in joy. Rage was what would make most things go out of hand, though. And this Gray... He felt like punching his face in. A person he did not know. And what level of restraint it took not to jump up and fulfill that urge. Part of the reason would be the girl sleeping with her head on his lap.

* * *

"Draco." I stated, my eyes opening in an instant as the increasing heat woke me up.

"Lucy!" he all but yelled out as he jumped from the sudden sound of my voice, and I sat up on the bench as my muscles screamed for me to duck and attack. The Wyvern! But.. where was it? Oh... I fainted. Again. So I turned again, set my eyes into the apparent culprit. Draco was a tough nut at most times, though he oddly enough did not like getting yelled at. Especially by me.

"YOU..." I started, jabbed a finger in his chest, and he flinched. He looked like a child in the face of his infuriated mother, which again reminded me of the conversation from this morning.

"Sorry?" he started, lifted his hands in submission. He tried smiling apologetically, but I would've continued my assault had it not been for the fact that someone coughed, and I looked up.

"Gray?" I said, almost asked, though the answer was sitting just a table length away.

"Yo." he greeted in his normal manner. Well.. this was a tad awkward.

"Your clothes." I commented, and he looked down to see that indeed, most of his clothing was missing.

"Why are you here, Draco?" I asked the other guy as I resumed my task of reprimand, ignoring the other male that swore and started looking about for his missing pieces of clothing.

"You were running from a monster. I had to come rescue you!" he replied, raising his voice as he went. Yeah. Draco tended to yell at times. With me, anyways. With other he either tended to either be awfully polite, or, according to the other spirits that were with him when I wasn't around, cry. Him crying seemed rather odd to me, especially when I never really saw HIM cry. I HAD seen the other one cry though, but Draco seemed more similar to the Earthland version. Anyways, back to the argument..!

"It was a Wyvern! I've dealt with Wyverns before!" I yelled back, followed the pace and was getting quite angry as I went as well. I had it under control! Well.. sort of.

"Oh guys?" Gray tried interrupting us. He had apparently located his clothes by now. For how long they would remain on, however...

"SHUT UP GRAY!" both Draco and I yelled in unison.

"Okay..." he said, raised his hands in surrender.

"YOU. Draco. I TOLD you to keep out of it." I said, my voice not as loud but still angry.

"And I TOLD you that I REFUSE. Leo the Zodiac.." he started to say, his voice also reaching for a more normal level.

"LOKE KNOWS THE PLAN!" I yelled, back into yelling mode and cutting Draco off. Okay, so there might not be much of a plan, but it DID involve my spirits not interfering. So I hadn't exactly told them that, but they OUGHT to know!

"HE TOLD ME YOU'RE DY.." and he also started yelling, but once more I interrupted him.

"FORCED CLOSURE!" I yelled out, and he swore as he disappeared, only to be replaced by.. Phoenix.

"I told him this would happen, y'know. But like the sap he is, he worries." she commented, and then waved to Gray. She was more like Lucy Ashley, really, but at the same time, not.

"What's iceprick doing 'ere anyways? Yo Iceprick, what'r'you doing here, hm?" Phoenix continued, directed at Gray where he sat.

"Ignore her." I said simply.

"Yeah, ignore me, Iceprick. Just some family drama, 's all. Not anything you need to worry your pretty little head with." Phoenix laughed at his expression, and then turned to me. I stared at her too.

"You heard." I said.

"I heard." she replied.

"And if you, EVER, attempt to hide anything like that from me or any of the others again... I will kick that pretty little arse of yours. You hear me? I'll even throw in some of the techniques from you know who." she threatened cooly, and then she seemed to calm down.

"Now I have places to be, 'parently, but you seem pretty well taken care of here, so it's ok. Eat some soup, sis. It's gettin' cold." Phoenix continued. I saw a smile playing on her lips. So she knew about the conversation earlier today, huh...

"So long, Iceprick." she greeted Gray once more, and then there were just the two of us. Me and Gray.

"What was that about?" Gray asked me after staring at the spot where the other me had been sitting.

"Phoenix doesn't like people that much. And Draco... He's complicated. He didn't say anything strange to you, did he?" I replied, and Gray furrowed his brows.

"He looks a lot like Natsu." he commented instead of answering me.

"Yeah.. that's complicated too." I said, and picked up my spoon. The soup might be cold, but I was still hungry. Starving, in fact.

"Look, I know you got a past..." Gray started.

"I do." I confirmed.

"And we all got a past.." he continued.

"I know that too." I agreed. I knew that very well.

"But we're family. If you need help..." he let that one hang there for a while, and I gulped down a few more mouthfuls of soup, finished the bowl.

"I used to be in a lot of trouble, you know. All the time." I replied, and I smiled as I said it, but let the smile falter the moment after.

"But we always pulled through. Fought ourselves to the limit and beyond. Finished with a bang, and somehow came out of it alive, and victorious. And it would earn me and most of my friends some time at the hospital, but we'd be alright..." I stopped.

"Was that what earned you a home call from Kirk?" Gray asked, and I chuckled, though I didn't let the smile that came with it linger.

"You heard about that, huh. Didn't see you at the guild that day." I replied. He chuckled too, and moved over to my table. Sat back down.

"News travels fast, and Kirk only visits the worst of us. There's a bet going around the guild about what brought you to the hospital in the first place." he said, and now I laughed.

"Yeah, they do that, don't they." I said, let go of my gloominess as I lit up again at the prospect of all the silly things going on at my guild.

"Mhm. Care to give me a hint? Was it while fighting a Wyvern?" he looked at the sky as if the very mention of Wyverns would summon another to the spot where the other had been.

"Nope. It wasn't all that fancy that one." I replied.

"Then what?" Gray asked. I looked at him, furrowed my brows.

"There was an explosion at the Festival in Hargeon. You know that, right?" I began, decided to go for the truth. Gray deserved that.

"Yep. Wasn't there, but that was a disaster. It was a miracle no one died, or even got hurt, well, except from a few cuts and bruises." he said, laid the foundation. So no one got hurt. Well, almost no one.

"Yeah... the house with the fireworks exploded. And I.. was in that house. I know. Stupid move. I don't really remember that much. Just that I was in that house... and then the dream.. and my mom... and then my partner was beside me, begging me with his eyes to breathe while I bled out on the ground..." I disappeared into a daze as I recalled that. My mother talking to me. Telling me that.. that making him raise another grave would break him.

And I recalled waking up this morning, wondering if all this struggling was worth it. It WAS worth it. I KNEW it was worth it. For if he was to raise another grave, it WOULD break him. Even if he didn't know it. And speaking of not giving up...

"You were in Hargeon?" Gray asked, surprised.

"Yes. I go there every now and then. Now I need to get on with my mission though." I got up, stretched my tired arms, touched my black leather glove.

"From the looks of it your mission is over, isn't it? With the wyvern gone and all?" he waved aimlessly into the air, indicating the general area where it had been.

"My mission wasn't defeating the wyvern. My mission was to find a treasure in a cave. The wyvern was sort of a.. complication. Mind tagging along? I'll give you half my reward," I said, tempted him with my reward, and he looked at me with some kind of fascination.

"You do that a lot? Take on hard missions like this?" he asked.

"It had a reward of 30.000 jewels. I didn't really think a treasure hunt would involve Wyverns." I retorted, and Gray shook his head.

"I'll tag along." he agreed, then.

"Good," I said. I already knew that I needed the help for this one. Draco wouldn't be appearing again for a while. Because he knew. He knew.

He knew that if he did, he might kill me.

***_I like cliffhangers. This isn't the worst I've done, but I do tend to do it a lot none the less. I guess I'll be seeing you again in the morrow. Oh, and feel free to message should you find particular elements of the story more than average confusing or nonsensical. Should this involve this Saga, I will have to say that the 3rd Saga isn't done yet, so some explanations might be coming in time._***


	11. Chapter 11, 3rd Saga Part 3

***_Yes, I am back again. Trying out a new kind of schedule. I hope it is to your liking. I do not own Fairy Tail, nor its characters or its storyline_***

"It's been a while since I didn't go on a solo mission." Gray commented as we sat down by the rocks, catching our breaths after escaping the cave and the fire and the fighting. Oh, Fairy Tail did not run or admit defeat, but fighting a horde of Wyverns for no particular reason wouldn't exactly lead to victory. Besides, we had found the treasure, and with retrieving it our mission was reaching its end.

"What about Team Natsu?" I asked, and he furrowed his brows.

"Team Natsu doesn't exist," he muttered. He was the second one to say that, and for the first time, I was hesitant. Of course Team Natsu existed. I was deleted, but the rest of the Team lingered. Didn't it? Even without me, their teamwork had always been impeccable. They knew how to fight.

"Does too." I argued. I argued because they could not possibly have broken up because I wasn't there. I always just assumed that Lisanna might take my place. We were so much alike that we had been compared, and more than once.

"No. We thought about it, but really. I don't know if you've met Erza, but... Her, me and Natsu? We'd kill each other, or she would kill us." he explained. That was.. sort of true, but that was the case even with me around.

"But you are the strongest Team!" I exclaimed, and then got up as he did too. We still needed to get this treasure to my client in order to get our 15.000 jewels each reward. That was still part of the mission.

"We would've been, sure. The most destructive too. We broke a town once. Clover Town. But that was a long time ago." he said as we walked, and I laughed. There WAS that episode. And Galuna. And Tower of Heaven. And a lot of other incidents. Oh, all the trouble the lot of us had been in back then.

"How do you know about Team Natsu anyways? It was a strictly private thing, and way before your time." he continued. I laughed then.

"Yeah. I know some things." I said vaguely.

"You sure do. Heard you went on a mission with Natsu the other day." Gray continued. He seemed.. curious.

"Not really. I was at Mt. Hakobe. He was at Mt. Hakobe." I denied. It was all a coincidence, really. A strike of fate, perhaps.

"So nothing happened?" Gray asked.

"What do you mean, happened?" I questioned.

"He seemed more cheery afterwards." he commented.

"He was sort of gloomy before." I agreed. Gray sent me a look then.

"You're sort of gloomy too." I added.

"How do you know us?" he asked.

"I've seen you a couple of times. Guess you didn't see me, but I saw you." I explained.

"Where?" he asked.

"Hm. Where to start. Oh. It doesn't matter that much, and it makes me seem sort of creepy. Besides. You don't know me." I said, and then chose to stop talking. Gray seemed happier.

"I just spent the last hours fighting a cave of Wyverns with you. I feel like I know you already." Gray commented, and then laughed.

"Yeah... Thanks for that, by the way." I said, diverted the conversation.

"No problem..." he said, was looking at me oddly, then fixed his gaze forward again.

"You don't tell much about yourself, do you." he commented after a while, without looking at me as we emerged from the forest.

"Nope." I agreed.

"I know I said earlier that we're family, and that Fairy Tail would help you out if you're in trouble. I meant that." he said.

"Not with this one, Gray. Thank you for offering, though." I said, also avoiding looking at him too.

"And why not?" he asked.

"Because he's my prey. and besides, he's not all that dangerous." I said.

"So who is he?" Gray asked.

"I call him the curtain man. He hasn't really done much harm, so I'll deal with him in time. And then I'll find my guild." I replied. The Curtain Man, or mayhap the man in the shadows. I remembered that time I almost died during the Festival in Hargeon. In between that and waking up on the floor back in the Fairy Tail Guild, I had this strange dream. A dream where I had gone dining with the Strauss siblings. It had been a dream so lifelike that I thought it to be real, all the way to the fact that I started justifying different stuff happening. First it was the belief of me being somebody else than me, then the belief of it being the past. The person that had beaten me up then.. the Curtain Man.

"The curtain man?" he asked further, probably questioning the name. I could hear it in his voice. Yeah, that hadn't been my most glorified moment in the name calling business. I called him the Curtain Man since that had been my first proved meeting with him, standing behind a curtain around my bed at the hospital. I had a feeling I had met him before, but considering his powers, me forgetting about it wasn't all that weird.

"Don't know his real name. He showed up at the hospital, and he was the one to tell me about them missing." I explained. Yeah. At the Hospital. That had been a long day. Especially after Loke appeared to tell me the bad news. That they indeed had forgotten.

"Ah. There's the house of my client. Come on, let's get this over with, shall we?" I declared further, and indeed it was. The house of my client. We entered, handed off the treasure and got our reward.

* * *

We left the house, heading for the train station, not really speaking that much. I only stopped for a moment to comment his lack of clothes, again, and then we were both on the train. Okay, so I had to comment on the clothing thing twice.

"So what's up with the curtain man? Did he hurt you?" he asked, and I turned to look from the window to the boy. We were sitting next to each other, since we HAD ended that mission together, and I didn't really mind that much.

"No. He didn't even touch me. He just.. talked." I said, and then looked out the window again.

"Are you going to leave when you find your family again?" Gray asked further.

"That's complicated." I replied.

"Again? Like with Draco?" Gray asked.

"Yes. Much like Draco." I said. Then I turned to look at him again.

"And Hydra. Phoenix. Orion. Even Andromeda. It's all very complicated. Let's just say, for now, that I'm not going anywhere. So don't worry." I smiled briefly, then turned to the window. Looking at him was sort of difficult.

"I'm not worrying." he tried denying.

"You got your worrying face on. I can tell even without looking at you." I retorted.

"Do you have a spirit that looks like an older me?" he asked then, and I chuckled.

"No. I don't." I replied.

"Oh..."

"He looks more like a younger you, I think. Hydra. Around.. hm. Ten? Seven?" I added.

"He keeps calling me mom. They're special. Phoenix knows all about summoning. Draco senses it whenever I am in danger. And Hydra.. he visits me in my dreams. They keep me company along with my other spirits." I went on. He was a strange kid, that Gray. Very cute, and very attached.

"Why do they look like us?" Gray asked then. Didn't seem to question his behavior. No judgement. That was so.. Gray.

"Because they're different." I replied.

"How?" he asked further. Perhaps was there no judgement, but there was more than enough curiosity to make up for it.

"You know about the Spirit Realm. All spirits supposedly come from there. They don't." I replied.

"Do you know where they're from?" he asked.

"Yes." I replied.

"Are you going to tell me?" he continued.

"No." I said.

"Lucy?" he asked.

"Hm?" I grunted, urged him to go on.

"If you ever get into trouble, come to me." he said then.

"Why?" I asked.

"I'll help you out. Even if you don't want anyone else to know about those spirits." he continued.

"Thanks. And yes, I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about Draco. It's.." I began.

"..complicated." he finished for me.

"I get it. I can keep a secret." he continued. He was reliable, the boy. I closed my eyes to that, leaned against him, felt the feeling of his bare shoulder against my cheek.

"You lost your shirt again, idiot..." I muttered before I let my exhaustion catch up with me and I fell asleep.

* * *

"She trusts you completely." a boy with blonde orange hair commented as he appeared on the opposite seating at the train, sitting there in his shades and tuxedo and looking like a playboy.

"Let me guess, you're another one of her spirits?" Gray commented as he adjusted his position, placed an arm around Lucys shoulder while being careful not to wake her up.

"I am. I am Leo the Lion Zodiac, though you might call me Loke. We're from the same guild." Loke replied.

"You and Lucy?" Gray questioned, and Loke nodded.

"Yes." Loke confirmed.

"But you're a Spirit." Gray continued. He wasn't all that stupid, after all. So Loke smirked.

"So? You only know that since I told you." he said. And that WAS the truth. This Loke didn't look like anything that wouldn't just as well belong in this world.

"Fair enough. So do you want anything?" Gray continued.

"She's dying." Loke said. A simple statement.

"What?"

"You heard me. She fainted while leaving the guild yesterday, didn't she? And then while fighting the Wyvern. When Lucy woke up this morning, she started coughing, and she was coughing up blood. She cries, all the time. And she's terrified... terrified that if she gets close to anyone, something similar is going to happen to them. And at the same time, she is making sure, that if everything goes wrong, there will only be minor repercussions." Loke said, and then he set his eyes on the boy in front of him.

"She was in Hargeon during the festival last month, allegedly with that partner of hers. In that building that exploded. And her mother, her long dead mother I might add, told her this in her dream. You can't give up, Lucy. You can't let him raise another grave in this place. It will break him." he paused for a moment.

"Who do we both know to have raised a grave for a close friend, and that almost broke because of it? You're smart, Gray Fullbuster. You'll figure it out." he finished, and then he looked out the window. He sighed for himself, then got up. Tightened his tie and adjusted his glasses before he smiled and looked at the fellow male.

"I should kick your ass, by the way. But another time. I'm here because one of her special cases escaped not long ago. Orion is SOMEWHERE, and wherever she is, it is going to be bad. Hydra too. Phoenix and Draco are accounted for, and Andromeda isn't but he is always off somewhere, as is his way. "

"Thought Orion was a man. The Hunter."

"Never let her hear you say that." Loke laughed, and as the train halted, he got off. They were not yet in Magnolia, so Gray remained seated, though he stared at at the leather gloved hand of the girl that rested in her lap, lightly secured by her other hand. He DID know of a certain grave raiser that had been gloomy for a very long time afterwards. And as if on cue, she groaned in her sleep.

"Stop breaking in, Natsu... I have.. a door.. you know. NO.. stripping!" she said incoherently, and then she started shivering.

"Don't hurt them..." she nearly moaned, when suddenly a small hand reached out and grabbed her gloved hand, making her calm down almost instantly.

"Mom is having a nightmare again." a young male voice said, and Gray looked up to see the spitting image of his younger self. The boy was looking at him, wearing a long black set of trousers and a white winter jacket lined with fur.

"Whoa. You must be Hydra." Gray said, looking at the little boy, and he just looked back without smiling.

"That's what she named me." he stated simply.

"She named you?" the older male asked then. He didn't know much of Celestial mages

"We were nameless, wandering our world when it happened. Someone ruined the balance between our worlds, and then we were in that other place. This Spirit Realm." Hydra explained simply, and then it was as if the wagon grew colder, and Gray blinked. When he opened his eyes again, the whole wagon was icy cold, the other seats, empty as the whole wagon was, were covered in rime.

"I am stronger here. And I will protect her, just like her own team. She called them the strongest. The strongest team in the whole of Fiore." he continued, and then...

"If you hurt her, I will kill you." the boy ended, then moved along, walked on the crispy frozen ground. Like a little Poltergeist, he was. Unsmiling and by the sound of it, unforgiving.

Well.. that was weird. And wasn't Celestial magic quite draining for the user? Levy had explained it all, said that summoning more than one Spirit at the time was very rare, and very tiring. Yet during a short time span he had met no less than three of them, with more of them possibly roaming about somewhere in Fiore. Draco, Loke and Hydra. And Loke, the Zodiac Spirit, had never left, and neither had Hydra.

And Lucy was dying according to Loke. Now when Gray thought about it, Draco was probably about to say the same when Lucy forced him to leave.

Lucy of Fairy Tail, a member of the Strongest Team. Gray knew of only ONE Team ever being considered that.

***_And introduction has come over us. Needed to introduce some of the new arrivals. Congratulations, you have now met Draco, Phoenix and Hydra. You have not yet met Orion or Andromeda, but you know they exist. It was a weird chapter, but it kind of grew on me_***


	12. Chapter 12, 3rd Saga Part 4

***_I still do not own Fairy Tail. Nor do I own its characters or its storyline. If I did Fairy Tail would have thirty fans. While I love you guys, it would be sad if that was all Fairy Tail got._***

"Hey, Gray, welcome back! Is that Lucy?" Mira greeted the Ice Mage as he entered the guildhall with a still sleeping Lucy piggyback riding on his back at the moment.

"Mhm. We were on a mission together and she fell asleep on the way back. I didn't want to wake her, but then I realized I don't know where she lives," Gray explained, and continued on to the infirmary where he dumped her, carefully, onto one of the beds there.

He returned to the main hall and ordered a cool beer, thinking about the things he had gotten to know on this trip when the barmaid sat down next to him after getting his order.

"So, you were on a mission with Lucy? Thought you went on a cleaning job." she commented.

"I did. It didn't end too well. But I met Lucy and helped her out on her mission too." Gray explained.

"Hm. Treasure hunt. That was the mission she set out on." Mira said after thinking for a moment. She had an amazing memory when it came to the missions she scribbled down in that notebook of hers.

"Turned out to be quite the mission. We met a nest of Wyverns in there, so she needed some support." Gray said, remembering the incident. Lucy screaming, and the grand entry of Draco, followed by their little talk and then the raid of the Wyvern Cave.

"Wyverns? Didn't know they traveled in packs. Good thing you came over her. Did you succeed?" Mira said, her brows furrowed.

"Yes." he confirmed.

"Good. Is she good?" she nodded in the direction of the infirmary as she asked, and Gray nodded. He knew why she asked, knew of the fainting in the middle of the guild the day before. The talk had of course been going ever since. No one knew much about Lucy, and though everyone got a past in this place the past of this one seemed to be causing her quite a lot of harm.

"For now. I think Wendy should have a look at her when she gets back from her mission, though. When Kirk comes to visit he usually got a point." Gray said, had already decided to keep his mouth shut for now. At least until he could get more out of the girl herself. But the claim about the girl coughing up blood didn't bode well. It was better safe than sorry.

"He usually does. Good. That's good. And it's good that you're willing to go on missions with other people again too." Mira said, and got up. Gray chuckled. He guessed he had been on the gloomy side recently.

It had been a rough few weeks. People had been on edge, Natsu stopped talking to people and Gray had stopped going on anything but solo missions. Erza had disappeared off on a really long mission without offering her goodbyes to anyone but Master and Mira.

Then Lucy had appeared. She had been a happy girl, trying her best to move about unnoticed, but she HAD been noticed by the people in the guild. Like a scared little hare that at times could light up the room when her face lit up in one of her smiles. Secretive, she was, and her visits were generally quick, but she was a person that seemed to just fit in, somehow. She just belonged, like a hand in its glove.

As if the thought of her worked as a sort of summons, there she was, suddenly, in the doorway to the infirmary, still clad in that white dress of hers, face flushed and hair sort of ruffled, confused and mayhap slightly panicked.

* * *

"Gray?" I asked, looked about in the guildhall, looking for the person I last remembered being with, and I spotted him at the bar, lifting his and in greeting, and I could breathe again. After waking up in the infirmary I had feared it all to have been some sort of dream, or perhaps had something gone awfully wrong. I had such a nightmare earlier, where a shadow came upon us at the train, deleted everybody and left me stranded, all alone in a dead world.

Then Hydra had appeared, like he did when my mind became blackened with my fears and insecurities. He had just suddenly been standing there where I was on my knees, buckled over and screaming for them. He had been looking down on me, and then embraced my huddled form, told me it would be alright in that serious voice of his.

And when I wake up, I needed to know that the first part of the dream wasn't true.

"You slept so soundly when we arrived I figured you needed the rest. Besides, I don't think I could've woken you up even if I wanted to," he announced, and I smiled.

"Yeah.. I'm sorry about that, I'm a heavy sleeper." I excused myself, dragging a hand through my hair in an attempt to fix it up some. I felt exposed, and all flurried. So I stopped smiling and looked on the ground as I made my way down the stairs from the infirmary and over to the bar.

"Are you hungry Lucy?" Mira asked as she scurried past, and I ordered some food that she noted in that memory bank of hers.

"Where d'you live?" Gray asked me after I sat down, and I lifted a brow at him.

"None of your business." I replied, shook my head as I turned my gaze forward. At the moment no one had anything to do in that place anyways. The silence was deafening, but after long days it was a place of rest.

"I just thought that next time I might bring you home instead of the infirmary." he mused.

"This place is fine." I replied. The guild was fine. The guild was more than adequate, and I was glad Gray had brought me here. Had he tried, he would've been able to wake me up, no matter how much of a heavy sleeper I was, but he obviously hadn't done that.

"Aw, come on. Tell me where you live!" Natsu asked as he suddenly made an appearance, sat down on my other side, and I stared at him. Why the sudden attention?

"Aye sir!" Happy chimed in, sat down on the counter and was immediately handed a fish by a passing Mira. How she managed to conjure those pieces of fish from nowhere at any given time was a mystery.

"Where have you been, ash for brains?" Gray asked past me.

"Shut up, droopy eyes."

"Pointy eyes!"

"Stripper!"

Then they clashed in a fight and I had to stifle a laugh. It had been a while. Happy ayed once before his attention went back to the fish.

"It sure has been a while since they really had it at each other like that." Mira commented, an echo to my thoughts.

"I thought I saw them fight when I first joined the guild." I commented, and Mira laughed.

"Yes, they were fighting then, but that was an actual argument." Mira said, gave me my order as she smiled brightly at me.

"I get what you mean." I muttered, started eating the meal she had brought to me. I was starving, and though a small part of me just wished to wander off somewhere, curl into a ball and sulk, I knew better than to do that.

"So where DO you live?" the barmaid asked casually as she moved behind the counter, organizing cups and glasses and bottles of alcohol.

"Not too long from here, though for now I would like to keep it a secret." I replied. I would like to keep it secret, in case.. in case I didn't make it. A plan B.

"That's okay, honey. Whenever you're ready," Mira said, then she left as another customer yelled out his order.

* * *

After yelling out insults and bragging about accomplishments for a while, thus giving each other a rough outline of each others whereabouts and doings lately, they finally seemed to calm down enough to begrudgingly sit beside each other at the bar, at the seats they had been sitting at before, with an empty seat in between them, since Lucy seemed to be gone by now.

"Where d'she go?" Gray questioned the barmaid as she stood there, cleaning some glasses as she tended to be doing in between taking or preparing orders.

"You mean Lucy? She left about half an hour ago to do some missions. Just within the borders of the town. Said something about rent. I sent Lisanna with her." Mira replied, cheery as per usual.

"Where's old Gramps?" Natsu asked then, looking about, confused by the lack of the Master of Fairy Tail.

"Oh, he's been brooding in his office for a few days now, going through some old papers. Apparently the complaints have been piling up for a while and he needs to get them organized." the silver haired girl smiled, and then continued with her task. The Fire Mage furrowed his brows at that, but let it go as he got up, staring at the door, his eyes distant. He did that, from time to time, as if he was waiting for something, or someone. The moments didn't usually last that long, so people let him be, accepted that strange quirk of his that emerged every now and then in between creating havoc and laughing or eating or having a good time.

Lisanna had attempted to talk to him about it, told him to cheer up if he ever wanted a girlfriend. She always had a way with teasing him with that, even before the whole disappearance deal several years ago. This time he had gotten angry, however. Not for long, of course, he wasn't one to hold a grudge, but it had spooked his childhood friend.

He sent another look towards the empty chair, his face twisted in some kind of confusion as his mind attempted to grasp something that was just out of reach, close enough to know it was there, but far enough away so he didn't know what he was reaching for.

"Let's go to the woods for some evening training!" Happy declared, aware of the mood of his partner, and giving him a way out of it. Natsu saw that, and understood, smiled at his friend as his good mood seemingly returned.

Then he left, the boy with the scarf. Left because he wanted to train. He wanted to train and forget about the confusion, and that pit of despair that belonged somewhere deep within him, together with the feelings he had been wallowed in when his father left, and that he had felt again when Lisanna disappeared.

* * *

The old man that was of an unknown age, small of growth yet big of heart, was sitting on his desk. Yes, ON it and not BY it. He was that small of growth indeed. Yet very few would mock him for that due to his strength in character. But his physical shortcomings were not what bothered the old man at the moment. What DID bother him was very paper related, old papers that needed to be accounted for and stocked away. Fairy Tail usually was late on the paperwork related part of the job, and now was no exception. They tended to pile up until there were so many that they HAD to be taken care of.

It was that paperwork, reaching back a few months, that bothered him. And as the mysteries had piled up he had searched through other files, and yes. There she was.

A Lucy Heartfilia, smiling up at him from a picture painted by Reedus. And the boy sitting next to her, none other than Fairy Tails own Natsu Dragneel.

"Master?" a voice was questioning from the other side of his office door, accompanied by knocking, and the little man looked up from his pile of paper, which he at the moment found himself almost buried in.

"Come in, Gray." he said, and the door opened to show the young Ice Mage that probably were responsible for a good amount of the papers Master Makarov was filing at the moment. The younger male closed the door after him before he turned to Master again, his brows furrowed.

"It's about Lucy." he began, seemed a tad uncomfortable. He took a deep breath before he continued.

"I know this will seem very strange, but is there any chance that she might be..." he stopped again, and Makarov sighed.

"A Fairy Tail mage? So you noticed, did you? Here, have a look at this." Master Makarov Dreyar finished for the younger boy and started searching through his papers for the picture he had found. Some swearing and papers falling off the desk in every direction later, and there it was. It was a piece of art, with Lucy smiling brightly, sitting on the ground, Natsu sitting next to her, his arm casually slung over her shoulder. Gray was sitting on her other side, also smiling, and Erza was standing clad in her usual clothing, a hand roughing up Lucys hair. Happy was sitting in her lap, a fish in his paws. The painting was named, as some of Reedus's works were. "The Strongest Team".

"I'm sure the child has a reason for keeping this from me," he continued, serious.

"How long have you known?" Gray asked.

"Since she walked into the hall and asked for her second stamp. No matter how old I am, I'll never forget any one of my children, though I have to say, it hurts to see her being like this when I look at her on these paintings." Master said. The magic might trick the minds, but that mark she had on her right hand did more than just signify where she belonged. It was magic, the stamp, and not the kind to be easily erased, nor had it been even though her face had been wiped from their minds.

"She sure looks happy on this one..." Gray agreed, lost in thought. This... explained a lot. Like why she kept talking about Team Natsu, a team that according to his memory never had been officially established, even with all the missions the team had gone on in the past. And it certainly explained how they had managed to go on such missions. She was the final piece, of equal importance as everybody else.

"Let's keep this between the two of us for now, but keep an eye on her too. She's tough like nails by the looks of things, but we're a family. Family sticks together." Makarov declared, and Gray nodded as he handed back the picture. Then he headed for the door again. Looking after her, that he could do. In a way he already felt like he had to, and he had a feeling that the other male in "the strongest team" felt the same way. He hadn't figured it out yet, obviously, being the idiot he was, but Natsu Dragneel was one to follow his instincts, and even with his memories gone he would feel the bond between him and Lucy, surely. They had seemed awfully close on that painting after all.

"And how did you manage to break a house while cleaning?!" Master Makarov yelled after him as Gray was about to close the door behind him. The ice mage just chuckled, and then he was gone. Gone from the office, leaving the old man alone once more with his paperwork.

***_Yes. Another End. The end of the 3rd Saga has come upon us. I have to think of some other symbolisms and/or quirky missions to write about, and then I need to do.. stuff... Oh, there is no need for my boring plans and whatnot is there? Nah, we'll all get there. As I have mentioned before, if there are more than average confusing tidbits that makes no sense at all, you are welcome to message me._

_If you are just a little confused, it's alright. I get that a lot. Other than that, I guess you'll all have to wait until the next Saga is written, if it ever is (which is likely, though I hate making promises). So long!_***


	13. Chapter 13, The End?

*****I do not own Fairy Tail, nor its characters or its storyline. This never gained much good will, I suspect. It's not a terrible story, but neither is it splendid. No matter, I will give you this chapter none the less*****

She was walking the streets of a certain town, dragging with her the beaten to a pulp perpetuator. As in the person she had been sent out to capture, alive. And indeed had he been sneaky, and well guarded.

Not well enough guarded to keep him safe from the Titania, but she would still admire his defenses. He was alive still, as the mission requested. Only barely, but other than having a pulse the mission had said nothing about him having to be in good shape, or even in decent shape.

Erza Scarlet, the strongest female in Fairy Tail, had finally finished her mission. One that had taken her weeks to accomplish. And now, she might be able to stomach her return. Find another mission. Possibly leave again. Staying at the guild had suddenly become unbearable for her one day, and she had promptly left. Not like she hadn't done it before, just not that often recently.

Recently she had, for some strange reason, spent a lot of time on missions with Natsu and Gray instead. And she remembered those missions as fun. Enjoyable. Yet.. the thought of going on another mission bothered her, and she did not understand why. Natsu and Gray had always been close friends with her. The three of them had grown up together, after all. So why.. could she not stomach the very idea of them going on another mission, the three of them, or four should she include Happy? Why did it feel wrong, somehow?

As she walked the streets with the criminal in tow, the Scarlet mage witnessed something.. odd. Or not so much odd as it was borderline impossible.

Natsu Dragneel, only several years older than he ought to be, that unless she somehow had managed to be gone for quite a few years without noticing, came running past her, yelling out apologies, and CRYING, a mob running after him. Judging by the smoke that could be spotted in the not too distant distance Erza could only assume that the fellow, looking a lot like without being the Dragon Slayer she knew so well, had done something very Natsu-like. So he had destroyed something. And now he was fleeing town. While crying. And apologizing. Only one of those things were like the Natsu she knew.

Erza remained standing in place, her brows furrowed as she contemplated the meaning of this, when.. a maid.. came calmly walking in the same direction the familiar not familiar being had been running in. She stopped in front of the Fairy Tail mage, her pale blue eyes eyeing the other female for a moment.

"Erza Scarlet. It has been a while," the Maid stated simply, bowed so the shackles on her wrists rustled slightly, and then she continued walking, not looking back.

It was a strange day. Erza snapped back into the present, and was on her way. It was time to turn in the criminal. He would need medical attention in not too long if he wished to live.

* * *

The whole ordeal was forgotten during the meeting with the client, where he, the old man that had hired her, kept on talking for so long that the sun had set by the time she got out of his house. Because of that she had to find a place to stay for the night.

As she checked in at an inn just outside the town the encounter from earlier recurred to her. And as she fell asleep, the Maid kept reappearing. Popping up from the ground itself, always with that serious look on her face, her words echoing throughout the entire dream. *Erza Scarlet. It has been a while*.

* * *

As she arrived at the station the day after, another surprise awaited her. The train had been canceled, due to ice. And not the kind caused by bad weather. The wagons had just.. frozen. Solid. Ice magic. So she had to start walking instead. While the train she was supposed to get on was far from the only one, the destruction brought on by some unknown mage made the next arrival several hours ahead, so Titania started to walk instead.

There was a suspected criminal behind the vandalism, a young boy with spiky black hair and dark eyes. A child that might fit the description of a young Gray Fullbuster. The very notion would never had occurred to her had it not been for her encounter with the older Natsu Dragneel the day before.

* * *

And then... Then this. Erza Scarlet had been walking for quite a few hours. She had already decided that she would rent a SE-plug car in the next town unless the train arrived there not too long after, when she spotted a girl resting in the grass by the road, staring at the blue blue sky.

She looked at Erza as the crimson mage approached, sat up more properly. And Erza saw what looked like her counterpart from Edolas. Erza Knightwalker.

"Knightwalker?" she questioned the moment after, put her thoughts into a word. The girl was wearing a black bikini top and a pair of torn shorts. Her long, scarlet hair was set up in a ponytail, long and wavy and so similar.. to that other Erza.

"Ah, hello there. You must be Erza Scarlet. Do you know the way to the guild named Fairy Tail?" the girl asked, cocked her head to the side, a very un-Erza like gesture as she also displayed her all but pierce-covered ears. Silver, every piece, at least six or seven per ear. Plus one in her nose. She also wore some silver rings on her fingers.

"What are you doing here?" Erza Scarlet asked, still pretty convinced of this somehow being a person from the other world, and the other girl laughed.

"Oh, sorry. You think I'm sort of a nightwalker? I'm Orion. A Spirit. I lost track of my Master a while back, and I only know that she's a member of a guild named Fairy Tail? It's in a town that starts with M, but for the life of me I can't remember what more..." Orion said, got up on her feet stretched her arms and yawned.

"And I know that you're not me, so you have to be Erza Scarlet, right? Lucy told me we look a lot alike," she continued, and then reached out a hand in greeting.

"Ah.. Lucy?" Titania took the hand, but was none the wiser.

"No. I'm Orion, Lucy's my Master. Lucy of Fairy Tail." Orion specified.

"Oh. So there is a new member in Fairy Tail?" Erza asked. The change was so sudden. Her open and curious eyes darkened, and she took a step backwards.

"You. Don't. Know. Anything." she nearly spat out and then she clenched her fists, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. That seemed to calm her.

"I am Orion, the Hunter. I came here to hunt this thing called a Wyvern, but something went wrong in between transitions and I ended up in the wrong forest. I don't worry, I'm pretty certain Draco got to her in time. While I sense the presence of foes, mostly beasts of different kinds, he can sense it when she's in danger. I can't return to the Spirit World without having Lucy close my gate, so I need to get to her town. The town that begins with an M. I know her guild is there, and I know it's called Fairy Tail." she said. Then she smiled, Orion, the Hunter.

"She would die for you, you know. She calls you amazing, and brave, and kind. She has seen your tower, and seen your tears. Why do you think everything is wrong? But now. Which way is.." she stopped talking, took hold of her throat as her knees gave in.

"No." she gasped. Her breathing labored.

"No, no no no no no no..." she kept uttering. And then she collapsed completely and faded until the Titania found herself alone by the road once more. Well.. that was weird.

* * *

The crimson sky shifted above, crimson because the day was ending, and the crimson sunset warned those that heeded the signs. Blood had been spilled, and more bloodshed might come to pass.

They stood by the sea, or perhaps should I say WE stood by the sea. On a cliff, a cliff with such a view I had never seen before, the wide ocean stretching out before me and all others present.

The grass. How to begin? It was so green, so beautiful, so mesmerizingly astonishing, swaying in that slight breeze that made it seem almost alive. That same breeze that followed an invisible path, that already had passed by some trees, birch if I was not mistaken, and found its way to my hair, caressing my cooling skin as I watched the figure in front of me, a soft smile lifting my lips slightly upwards, as if to tell him.. as if to tell him that is was alright.

He was a man in his mid-fifties somewhere, at least that would be my guess. Older than father yet not really all that old. His skin bore signs of his age, but not too many, and he was unshaven so I could see spots of spiky hairs protruding on his chin. The breeze gave me a brief whiff of his essence, and I would have to admit.. he smelled. And it wasn't a good smell. The man in front of me had short hair, much like my fathers hair before his fall, yet more greying and a tad roughed up now. After all, this man did not seem to have eaten or washed in quite some time.

He had blue eyes. They were wide now as he stared at me, showing off some extra wrinkles around them. He was staring at me, with my soft smile that told him that it was alright. It was alright that he had killed me.

And one might wonder, were we the only ones at the scene? Were the two of us the only ones to sight such an astonishing view, with the rustling of leaves in the distance, and the crimson sun setting behind the vast ocean? No. We were not. At least not for long, since THEY had appeared as the dagger cut through skin and flesh, entering in through my abdomen and as such coloring my white dress red around it.

THEY appeared, those that were not of this world. I could see them. Orion, Hydra, Draco, Phoenix, and even Andromeda. And though I did not wish for them to see this particular scene, the closing scene for my part, I was glad that they were here, and not in the Spirit Realm. For I knew that they liked this world better.

Then the breeze was joined for a moment by his big brother, a mighty gale that ripped in my hair, seemed to push me towards the edge. It was quite alright. I would've ended up there even without the push, but the support eased my mind in a way. And the ground gave in under me, the man following my path towards the end, wanting for it all to be over as much as I did. And as such, the story that started with a festival would end with a fall.

* * *

They cried out for her, but it was already too late. Too late for everything as the gale passed by them, blinded those that had long hair and as such had it blown in front of them, and when the wind dissipated, she was gone.

* * *

Through the streets of Magnolia the lot of them wandered, all five of them highly recognizable had it not been for the black cloaks that they had donned for the occasion. SHE had told them to keep a low profile, and though that request pretty much had been thrown to the wind, they wanted to remain anonymous this time. At least for now.

The door to her apartment did not stand a chance, ripped off its hinges before they entered. Up the stairs, into the bedroom. Over at her work desk they found it, the note they knew she would've left for them. That was the kind of person she was, after all. One that would die for the sake of her friends, but never without saying goodbye.

_Dear Spirits of mine._

_When you read this, you probably already know. And you're probably really angry with me, and want an explanation. Orion probably broke down my door too in her hurry to get to this letter you all knew would be there._

Orion muttered something under her breath that sounded like a lot of curses and the name none of them wanted to utter at the moment.

_And you don't know much. Well, Draco already met Gray, and I guess you all know that this world got a person resembling you to quite the degree, except from them being older or younger than you in some cases._

"We already know this.." Hydra commented cooly. It was Phoenix that read the note, and she stopped briefly to send him a killer glare that he sent back at her, though he didn't talk anymore.

_But you already know this, and you don't really care anyways. You want to know why I'm not here anymore. The reason why I most likely never will be._

_The man that did it... the man that somehow linked your world to the Spirit Realm and therefore sucked you into it and messed things up.. that man... He is, if I am not here, the man that killed me. And though you are angry with him, and though you will want revenge should he remain alive, I would want you not to do that. You see, the reason he became the man that he is... The reason why he lost everything and therefore wanted vengeance, that is me._

_I used to be wealthy. I used to be a heiress wearing frilly dresses and attending social events. My purpose in this life used to be getting a nice and wealthy husband, and then give him heirs to take over whatever business he would be involved in. Of course you know it didn't end like that, but that was my life. And back then I was supposed to marry this boy._

_This boy, he was around my age, a few years older yet far younger than most of my other possible husbands to be. And we were good friends. Best friends, almost. My father approved of the match, the boy was the main heir to a company that would serve my fathers purposes well, so of course he did not mind us going on trips to the woods, up in the mountains and such. Not all typical for ladies of my stature, but it was alright._

_Then, as we were hiking up in some snowy mountain, the accident happened. The boy died saving me, and though I wanted to, the circumstances demanded me to leave his body behind as I myself fled towards safety._

_The father of this boy was crushed. He was so crushed that he gave up on everything, and even handed the company his family had run for generations over to my father. This same man was hired by my father as a bodyguard, and his sole remaining child, a girl my age, was taken in as my playmate. But the father of what would have been my husband had hardened after the loss, and he blamed me for his death. I on the other hand did not want to marry some old man to fit into the grand scheme of my father any longer, so I started acting up._

_I tried running away. The family that had once been so grand did possess a rather peculiar sort of magic. The main use of the magic was to suppress memories, however, at least that was what the older man had specialized in. In a way it moved them away, and though the memories in some cases could be retrieved that was mostly not the case. Objects could be moved too, but that was a more experimental thing. They did not know how it worked, and therefore tended not to use it. After all, it made things disappear for then to reappear not too long after, with no implication as to where the object remained in the meantime._

_The memory of my deceased husband to be was therefore suppressed in hopes of me getting off the idea of not marrying anyone else, and so was most of my other and failed attempts to escape. But then I asked the sister of that forgotten boy to help me out. And so she did. She managed to transport me to this very town. Magnolia. And while in town I met these crazy people from this crazy guild, and I even got to come for dinner at the Strauss house, accompanied by Natsu and all three Strauss siblings. Then HE found me, like he always did._

_And since the magic to suppress my memories had turned out to lose its potency upon being used on me over and over again, he had to, or at least he did, beat it out of me, the memory of the incident. And as he did that he also managed to remove the memory of that girl. The girl that died using her magic to transport me away and into safety. He was also fired due to his rough treatment later on._

_So as I have told you now... I was the reason he lost both his children, his company, and in the end his job and home. And he offered me a deal. Either he would destroy everything that I loved, piece by piece as I had done to him, or he could destroy only me._

_I wanted to stay. I wanted to live. But I did not want to live while you died. And with me, it ends. The endless search of vengeance that destroyed the very man that would wind up being my killer, that will not destroy you. You are free._

_And so am I._

_Lucy Heartfilia_

They stared at the paper, where it stood, black on white, that she was gone. And they had seen her demise. They had seen her end, yet as it was spelled out in front of them, the fact finally seemed to sink in. And for the first time in so long, Hydra, the boy that displayed next to no feelings, started crying, soon joined by the others. It was not the kind of crying that would be heard from a distance. Nor was it silent. Just a low, heartbreaking set of sobs as the five of them huddled together in a very pink apartment by the river in a town called Magnolia.

*****I think this ended quite splendidly, don't you? Especially with this being the thirteenth chapter and all. You're probably confused. Yeah...*****


	14. Chapter 14, Erza Scarlet

*****I do not own Fairy Tail, nor its characters or its storyline. Just got hit by a strike of.. something, and voila, here we are*****

They fell, white and pure, down from the dark clouds that loomed over Magnolia. Snow. There should not have been snow, yet for the last day or so the weather had gone haywire, the temperature dropping below zero in record speed before the blue sky was cloaked in grey, and there it was, that wintery white no one had expected to see this time a year. Had one bothered to ask Juvia, and many had, she would reply that no, this was not her doing. She was the rain woman and did not create snow. She was the rain woman, NOT the snow woman.

That was the scenery Erza Scarlet was met with as she stepped off the train. A wintery Magnolia with white streets and white rooftops and the occasional playing child, all in contrast to the summer she thought she left the last station with. And as she emerged from her wagon, she spotted the peculiar girl that sat on a bench by the door leading out of the station, a peculiar girl wearing nought but a pair of ripped shorts and a black bikini top even in this chilly weather. Had it not been for them encountering each other before, the Scarlet mage might have been more surprised.

As Orion spotted her scarlet haired lookalike she moved her stiff body from the bench she had spent the last hours sitting on, by the looks of it without moving a muscle, and used her weary legs to move over to the armor clad female in front of her.

"Orion." Erza stated as a sort of greeting. The eyes of the Hunter were empty. Where there had once resided the curiosity and lust for life there was now only a devastating void.

"Erza." she said back, the only sign of her at all heeding the presence of the other. There was something broken about the scarcely dressed girl. A sort of nothingness that denied the presence of the even more gut-wrenching emotions to come.

"I knew you would be here eventually. I have been expecting you." Orion continued. Her lips where chapped, and her skin deathly pale. Dark bags under her eyes told the other that this person had not slept this night. And she lifted her arm, Orion the hunter, clutched what seemed to be a piece of paper to her chest. Titania noted this sudden change in personality, and decided to cut to the chase.

"What do you want?" Erza asked. Orion swallowed, words seemingly churning in her mouth before she opened it.

"I am seeking a field. It should be around here somewhere, but I don't know.. I.. I.." she lost her words for a moment, her grip around the piece of paper strengthened and her gaze diverted for a moment before focusing on the newly arrived scarlet mage once more.

"The grave of a being that goes by the name of Lisanna Strauss. Not the one in the cemetery, I already found that.. the other one... eh.. hm. Where is it?" she finally managed to ask.

"Lisanna isn't dead." Erza replied, a bit surprised by the question. Orion flinched when the d-word was mentioned, opened her mouth, and Erza could almost see the girl in front of her suppress the flood of tears that threatened to overcome her.

"I know that.. I.. I know that..." Orion replied in a thin voice, took a deep, trembling breath as she attempted to compose herself.

"I just want to know where it is, is all. I'm just.. curious. Sh..She mentioned the place in this letter. And I thought that hey.. that... That seems like a beautiful place." she continued.

"Who mentioned it?" Erza asked.

"Ah.. Lu.. Hm.. Lucy. She wro.. she WRITES letters to her mom all the time. And in this one she talked about this clearing she saw in some dream. And there was a grave there." Orion explained.

"You read the letter she wrote for her mom?" Erza questioned.

"Yeah.. her mom's de.. she's d... She's no longer around.. Hm. Yeah. You know what, never mind. I'll find it.. myself." Orion seemed to have changed her mind regarding seeing the other redhead, even though she clearly had been sitting there for hours waiting.

"Wait!" Erza called out to the girl that had just started walking around, both her hands holding on to the letter as if it was the most valuable thing in this world. At the call the broken girl turned, managed a smile that almost brought the great Titania herself to tears.

"She says I'm free. She says I'm free.. but if being free hurt this much.. then." she swallowed. Her voice had acquired a trembling that was there to stay. A weak trembling, but undeniable.

".. then I'd rather not be. It hurts. My body hurts. My whole being hurts. I want it to just go away, but.. but I can't do that. Andromeda's looking for her. And when he finds her.. she needs a place to rest..." and then Orion stopped talking again as she walked out into the snowy street, stumbling along on stiff limbs, the white surrounding and falling all around her, landing on bare skin and melting away into nothingness just like that. And Erza Scarlet was once more left none the wiser as her lookalike left the scene, though that one might very well be a third one. The Orion she had just encountered was not the one she had encountered in the grass the very day before, smiling and laughing and full of... joy.

* * *

And Erza Scarlet did something that was very unlike her. She did not head straight for the guild, but instead let her feet guide her on a path her mind did not recall, following the river, frozen solid as it was on this unseasonably cold day. And as she walked, the snow creaking under her shoes, she came upon a house her feet seemed to want her to enter. She did of course refrain from doing so since she was not one to just enter a house without a valid reason, but she stopped, stared at a window situated on the second floor, contemplating how easy it would be to just.. climb up and enter through it. Pink curtains. It had.. pink curtains. How cute.

And as she stood there, she heard yelling from the inside. And thought she could see smoke emerging from a small crack of an opening since the window was not entirely shut. And just before she had finished her five second inner discussion whether or not to storm the place and rescue those within from the fire, a discussion where the pro-break-in side had been on the winning side, Erza heard a battle cry that felt oh so familiar right before a being flew through the all but closed window and continued flying straight into the river. Or he would have gone into the river had it not been frozen solid, thus just skidding him along until he found himself imbedded in the brick wall on the other side.

"And STAY there! Bloody burning the sofa for the hundr..." Erza did not catch the last part the blonde that had appeared in the window opening had said since she left the large opening the moment after, leaving the broken window as it was, the pink curtains blowing in the wind. And all the while, snow kept falling.

* * *

Without knowing why, Erza had all but fled the scene after witnessing that, since the act seemingly echoed through her mind, almost as if.. she had seen it before. Even though the flying being had been frighteningly similar to a certain Dragon Slayer she knew very well. Even though she could hear the sound of ice breaking as the heat of that very familiar person made the ice melt so he managed to fall into icy cold water anyways. And on she went, Erza Scarlet, on her way to the guild, once more following a path she did not need to think about. As if she had been outside that very house countless times before and thus knew the way between it and the guild by heart.

* * *

She entered the guild named Fairy Tail, the young woman named Erza Scarlet, like she had innumerable times before. And she was greeted like always, by waves and yells and yet another ongoing brawl. Everything was as it had been when she left. Nothing was out of the ordinary. So why.. WHY did it feel like the world was breaking asunder? Why did it feel like it should be HER, and not Orion, that ought to be broken? She didn't know, the Scarlet Mage, strongest female in Fairy Tail. And since she did not know, she went over to the bar and ordered a drink from Mira like she would on any other, normal day.

"Say, Mira.. has there been a girl named Lucy around here lately?" she asked casually, and Mirajane Strauss, barmaid and poster girl smiled sweetly at her, the same smile she always seemed to have for everyone lest they attack her family.

"Ah, Lucy? Yes, she joined the guild while you were away. I think she's on a mission now, but when she comes back I'll introduce you. She's a really sweet girl, I think you two would get along," the barmaid replied, and left to serve some other costumers. On a mission, huh. Erza wondered briefly when she would be back. She smiled to herself as the odd idea of a female friend popped into her mind, the idea of having someone to talk to about girly stuff. It was a well kept secret, after all, one the great Titania felt that this Lucy might very well could become a part of.

* * *

Orion, the hunter of beasts, had fallen to her knees next to the grave in the field. At last she had found the place she had been looking for. The tears were pushing their way forward with all their might, yet.. for some reason she could not conjure them no matter what. They were just locked within her and made her whole body tremble without it being from the cold. Of course she ought to be cold, only clad in a black bikini top and that torn pair of shorts as she was. But sorrow wreaked havoc that overruled that of mere physical pain or discomfort. What was cold against the ache within?

And then, with her bare hands, the girl with the scarlet hair started digging through the snow until she reached soil, hardened by the cold weather. Even so, she continued to dig with her bare hands, continued to make that which would become a black hole in the ground. Little did she notice that the tears finally emerged. Other things were more important. Andromeda was out looking for L.. for HER.. for her bo... And when he returned, she needed a place to rest.

Lucy Heartfilia had spoken of this resting place in a letter to her mom, confiding in the dead about that impending demise she had known about even before Orion the Hunter even knew her. She had known, yet she still had managed to wear such a brilliant smile. So even as her nails gave in, one after another, and her knees lost all feeling since the cold of the wet earth seeped through bone and marrow, Orion kept on digging while wetting the grave to be with salt and water as she cried. Andromeda was out looking for her... and when he returned she would need a place to rest...

*****Well this was just.. sad. Very sad. Though I might tie up some of the loose threads, even though there basically are none. None the less, I will release this before I change my mind and just delete it altogether. Because of this hasty decision made I will apologize for the probable grammar mistakes made within the text since I have had no time to do more than just skim through the thing in order to get rid of the worst of it. I kind of thought it ended last time, but alas...*****


End file.
